Valence
by YamiRuss
Summary: The legendary pokémon of Perioble keep the ecosystem in balance. By awakening one of them, you have judged yourself and your rival as harbingers of chaos. Team Omega is on the move. Your defense is one pokémon. Choose wisely.  *Accepting OCs.
1. Waterfall

Waterfall

The best thing about being so close to a waterfall is the noise drowns out the incessant chattering of an annoying cohort. Hikers were encouraged vehemently by numerous, unambiguous signs indicating that one wishing to remain in good health should not stray from the trodden path, but that was just a way for the village elder to cover his ass in case someone got hurt. Anyone with sufficient athleticism and balance would have no trouble up there. In other words, the elder's rules didn't apply to me.

Suddenly my life flashed before my eyes when I grabbed a rock that wasn't firmly embedded in the cliff. Luckily it was short enough not to distract me; my other hand still had a solid grasp and managed to hold on tightly. Twisting in the air hurt my wrist, but I was able to orient myself again and continue my ascent with very few thoughts of turning back.

"Gus!" my annoying cohort shouted at me. She was standing back on the hiking path, which put her about six meters behind me and twelve meters down. I was disappointed I didn't get farther away than that after twenty minutes of climbing. In my defense, it was a very steep cliff and there were signs suggesting mere mortals would not be able to prevail in this arduous task safely.

"You're sewing Joseph's skills!"

At least, that's what I heard. She might have said "You're going to get yourself killed" or something that makes more sense. The waterfall was loud. I couldn't be sure.

"Buzz off," I muttered knowing full-well I was talking to a rock. This close to the rushing water, she couldn't have heard me even if she were right next to me.

Just as well. The climb was more exciting without her bringing down my buzz. Only a few more meters and I'd be at the top. Not supposed to be up here? Hah! I laugh in the face of danger. Besides, if she thought _that_ was dangerous, she was in for a real show.

I crawled on my stomach over the edge when I reached the peak. Admittedly, the climb was a bit harder than I expected and I may have broken more than one fingernail on the rocks, but I made it, and at least there was water for me to dunk my face and wipe away all the sweat I built up. But the second I stuck my head in the water and felt the sensation of having my head pulled off by water moving at about a thousand pounds of force, I yanked my head back out and agreed not to try that again.

I sat next to the water's surface for a moment to catch my breath and enjoy the forbidden view. Fauna were abundant here; at least, I think that's the word for trees. The valley had sheer cliffs on either side, giving the water an extraordinary contrast with the rock walls. The only colors I could name from this view were blue, brown, and green, but there were so many more variations of the colors than I can possibly describe. The sky and the water alone created such contrast in blues that I almost wished I studied my crayon box more closely.

There was maybe a hundred meters between where I sat and an opposite cliff that had a frontal view of the waterfall. I probably would have enjoyed the view of the waterfall from over there. What I saw from my perch was the water drop straight down and create no less than three rainbows as it collided with the rampaging rapids three hundred feet below. There sure were a lot of rocks down there…

"Gus!"

Brooke's annoying protests only egged me on. I stood up to make sure she could see me. I couldn't make out the details of her face from here, but I bet she was pissed. Actually what I was doing rarely mattered: That was still the likely expression on her face. She did still have my backpack on the ground beside her, though. I was surprised she hadn't thrown it in the water already just to spite me. I would have.

"Check this out!" I screamed, competing with the roar of the water. I grabbed the seams of my pants and gave one good rip. In a single motion, my tear-away pants gave way to bright, multi-colored swim trunks with a blast of yellow and orange that probably made me visible from outer space.

I don't know if she heard my words, but Brooke sure heard my swimsuit. She brought her hand to her forehead and looked away like she was embarrassed of my awesome fashion sense. Either that or the colors hurt her eyes when added to the sun's rays. Either explanation is totally believable.

I imagined her saying, "You have _got_ to be kidding me." She had a tendency to say that whenever I was nearby.

The water was heavy, and apparently my legs weren't much stronger than my neck. As soon as I put one foot in, the water yanked it away and I was lucky to spin around and fall right back where I stood, nerves wracked and unwilling to let me feel anything except intense cold.

"That was close!" I hollered down to Brooke.

I'm pretty sure she was cursing at me. And she was stamping the ground, which meant she was definitely pissed at me. What else is new?

The cliff was deep, but it wasn't the drop that bothered me; it was the rocks. They popped out of the water like earthen spears that had been dulled by erosion over time. I'd have to aim it just right if I hoped to make this dive without removing the V from that word.

"Only the man who confronts death can truly know life." That was a little mantra I used to rev myself up. It also reminded me that what I was about to do was totally awesome even though my brain was starting to think it might also be totally dangerous.

"Here goes."

I found a shallow portion of the stream a few decimeters away from the edge and put my foot down cautiously. The water really pounded me, but I was able to maintain my footing without slipping thanks to my strong calves and a decent understanding of leverage.

So I took another step. Again the water pushed hard, but I found the sweet spot. It was slow going and I probably owed a lot of it to luck, but I made my way to the middle of the stream. Now it was time to turn toward the waterfall.

On my first step forward, my foot slipped forward, my back leg buckled, and the water swept me up. That was not according to plan. I might have screamed from fear if I didn't end up with a mouthful of river water choking back my cries. I surfaced one time long enough to choke up the water, but then I was right back underwater for less than two seconds. I knocked my head against a rock and felt myself go completely numb for a moment. I lost the ability to fight the stream as the water carried me over the edge.

I always wondered what it would be like to fly. I never imagined trying it with hundreds of pounds of water shoving me straight down. It felt like having a wet blanket wrapped around me so that I couldn't move—the worst parachute in the world. I'd fallen from trees before, but this was so much worse. I had hoped to be past the waterfall when I dove and therefore not moving with the added speed of the water pushing me. The worst part was that when I vomited, the vomit stayed on me; the upside was the water wiped my face clean as I fell.

Lady Luck will forever hold the key to my heart. I slipped underneath the waterfall before I slammed into the lake's surface feet-first. I've had my feet so sunburned that I couldn't put on socks without feeling a world of pain, but that pain didn't compare to hitting the water at a thousand kilometers per hour.

Okay, so maybe odds are that I was going a little slower since I survived. I still had to swim upward for a full minute without finding air. My lungs burned even more than my feet, mostly because I couldn't feel anything below my knees. And my head throbbed worse than my lungs. And my feet were all but numb. It was really hard to figure out what hurt the most right then.

Just when I thought I might never reach the surface, I finally broke through and reveled in the best-tasting air I ever inhaled. The air and I virtually made out. I've never been so much in love.

The water didn't fight me so much here. It was actually pretty steady on the underside of the waterfall. I clawed my way onto the little patch of land at the base of the cliff. Land felt really good, too. I clung to the sediment and kissed it, just happy to be alive and out of the water. Then I tried so hard to spit the sediment off my tongue that I almost threw up again.

I lay there panting for a moment. Looks like Brooke was wrong: The fall _didn't_ kill me.

When I caught my breath, I rolled onto my back and looked up at the water falling past me. It was an interesting sight—like a shower curtain that was almost see-through but too distorted to really show anything except colors on the other side. This little alcove was clearly made by the falling water. I say "clearly" because huge droplets continually jumped up from the lake and pelted me in the face like baseballs. I eagerly rolled back over and not-so-gracefully pulled myself to my knees.

That's when I noticed a light whistle in the breeze. The air rushed from the water behind me, but instead of bouncing off the cliff base, it continued onward. I lifted my head slowly and gazed upon a man-sized tunnel formed in the rocks. It wasn't perfectly shaped, but it was too perfect to be natural.

"Where am I?"

The tunnel had a lot of draw to it. I really wanted to go spelunking all of a sudden, once my feet would let me stand again. But the creature standing in front of the tunnel grabbed my attention and held it.

Standing five feet high in the shape of a man with a propensity for rounded cutlery and with way too much mustache wax, the creature was noticeably humanoid but with marked differences. The first I noticed, gazing from toe to head, was its three-toed, clawed feet. Its body was brown and gold, and it didn't wear pants. The most prominent difference from a person was its rather fox-like head—thin, pointy ears and a sharp snout.

It was a pokémon.

"What are you doing here?"

Suddenly something else burst out of the tunnel. It was something huge and fast, and even when I pressed my face into the ground, I still thought the _whatever_ was going to pull me into the waterfall again as it shoved by overhead.

Somehow, I managed to catch a brief glimpse at what blew past. It looked like another pokémon. It moved too quickly for me to get more than just a glance when it erupted from the tunnel, but I did see a hefty, blue fish tail sweep through the air and splash down hard into the water beneath the waterfall. It was a strong swimmer, too, because the waterfall didn't even slow it down.

I turned back to look at the humanoid pokémon just as a human man walked out of the tunnel. He wore black pants tucked into his black boots with a matching shirt that didn't have sleeves. His left shoulder was protected by a single, silver spaulder and both hands had leather gloves with the fingertips cut off. He wrapped a crimson scarf around his neck and face, hiding his mouth from my view. His eyes were a piercing shade of blue, and he spiked his blond hair like a freshly mown lawn.

The man glanced at me as he emerged from the cave but he said nothing. Even with his eyes on me, he simply walked straight toward the humanoid pokémon, touched it with his palm, and both of them disappeared quite suddenly.

"Whoa," I uttered.

That was the coolest thing I ever saw!


	2. Thundershock

Thundershock

I had every intention of getting up and checking out that hole under the waterfall. That badass-looking guy disappeared with his pokémon, so I was desperately curious to see what he was doing in there. It had to be something cool considering how cool that guy looked. But apparently that little bump on my head and the shock of falling so far gave me a concussion and I passed out.

I was awakened by the hideous face of a furious towhead, growling at me like she was going to stomp on my head and devour my soul. I flinched and jammed my head into the rocks, adding neck strain to my list of pains.

"You hare-brained imbecile!" the beast shouted at me. "You almost busted your skull on the rocks!" Her face wrinkled when she got mad. It made her look a little like a tiger.

"That was just a setback. I slipped."

"It's water rushing with more than 120 psi! Of course you slipped!"

"I would have been fine if the rock I stepped on didn't turn. Who knew that rocks turn underwater?"

"Everyone knows that! They're not cemented to the river!" Brooke scoffed at me loudly and hit me in the face with a wad of spit in the process. She grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me to my feet with the strength of ten, furious women. She then proceeded to smack me on the back of the head. "You know the elder would hold me responsible for your stupidity if you died."

She was right about that. Brooke was exactly six weeks older than I was, and that's what made her the more mature one in the elder's eyes. It may or may not also have something to do with the time I taped the handle on the sink's sprayer; when the elder turned on the faucet, his entire stomach and crotch area got soaking wet. Either way, I was held to a much lower standard.

But the tunnel and the guy with the teleporting pokémon was much more important. Excited about what I saw earlier, I told her, "I get that, but check this out. There's something _under_ the waterfall!" I turned slowly and pointed to the tunnel.

Brooke immediately pulled me away , not even looking at the pure awesomeness under the waterfall. "We're going back to the village _right now!_"

"Fine," I said, wincing under the pain her vice grip gave my shoulder. _I'll just come back later._

There was a tiny path under the waterfall that connected to the rocky shore, but it was really more of a foothold than an actual walking path. I had to squeeze myself to the rock face and hug it tightly in order to sidle over there safely. It wasn't going to be much easier to get back there after dark, but maybe it wouldn't seem so bad if my head weren't still spinning.

But my forthcoming punishment wasn't even on my list of concerns. Even though I was planning to come back later, I couldn't achieve the patience to keep my finding a secret. I leaned in close, catching a whiff of Brooke's peach-scented shampoo, and whispered, "You'll never guess what I saw."

"I don't give a rattata's ass," she cut me off. "I am sick of cleaning up your messes."

"This isn't a mess that needs cleaning," I countered. "It's running water. That's what we use to clean messes. It's self-cleaning!"

I would have continued my witty retort, but a strange buzzing sound distracted me. Buzzing was fairly uncommon in this area woods. Usually you don't come across the big bugs until you head into the thicker areas. One or two bees out here, maybe, but this buzzing sounded really loud and dissonant. The volume was just too great to be normal.

"What is that?" Brooke was the first to ask.

The twitching bushes gave way to a swarm of bees—specifically to combees. Each one was a foot tall and looked like three honeycombs attached like Siamese twins. I remembered studying them in school. In the pictures, each one looks so happy and smiley. But right now, when they came out of the woods in buzzing-cloud form, I was glad my shorts were already wet.

"Oh, crap," she uttered.

Trying to sound so much calmer than I was, I asked, "Do they have just one stinger, or is it one per comb? Is this a bad time to mention that I might be allergic to bee stings?" I really wasn't—proven during the Vespiquen Incident seven years earlier—but my brain suddenly reminded me that a person can develop allergies with repeated exposure… and that was a lot of combees coming my way.

"Run!"

Brooke and I both took off for the village. It wasn't all that far if we ran, and surely we could outrun a couple of bees, right? If only my stupid shorts weren't wet and clinging to my legs like spider webs holding my legs together.

Just when my life began to pass before my eyes a second time this afternoon, four blue feet bounded in front of me and white wool blocked my view. Suddenly every hair on my arm rose and pointed directly at Mary the mareep, and I knew why. Mary was a little lamb, but Thundershock is a powerful electric attack. I got a feel for _how_ powerful when about forty combees dropped from the sky with just one explosive, electrical release. This pokémon I recognized as a mareep, the sheep pokémon. The farmer in the village had a lot of them, but they weren't trained for contest the way Mary was, and she belonged to Craig, my mortal enemy.

Craig was a total downer. He was a cranky old man of twenty-four years who made it his goal in this situation to point out that what I just did violated no fewer than four of the village elder's edicts. He made breaking the rules sound like a _bad_ idea. His chin doubled up on itself when he got mad. It looked like his neck was trying to eat his face.

"Who invited Crankshanks McBuzzkill?" I yelled at Brooke.

"I saw you emerge from the waterfall, Gus," he grumbled. His voice wavered and cracked as he spoke. "That place is forbidden! The Elder is going to tear you a new one."

"Wouldn't be the first time," I muttered. "He's done that so many times I can't drink a glass of water without springing a leak."

Craig ignored my nervous rambling and looked to his ewe. "Go, Mary," Craig spoke to the sheep, and the sheep responded by bleating loudly enough to startle me, but it wasn't enough to intimidate the invasion of bees. Craig didn't want to attack the bees unprovoked, but even I knew it was rare to see bees swarm like that in these woods. In fact, never once in all the times I ignored the elder's rules about the woods did I see more than three or four bees in one place, and they were usually harmless. Except for that one time when I tried an experiment involving a combee hive and a stick… but that was _way_ deeper in the woods, back where you can't even see the sun overhead.

"Hit them with a Thundershock if they attack again, okay Mary?" The mareep bleated in understanding reply. I was amazed the sheep could understand human speech so well, but that was just testament to the way Craig trained Mary. He was a pretty decent trainer, considering he was such a tattletale.

And then I felt disoriented when I was pulled off the ground. I recognized the vice-like grip and the feel of Brooke's bony fingers digging into my shoulder again. Right in the same place, too, meaning the pain was like nails piercing my trapezius.

"Let's go."

Craig and Mary stayed a few feet behind us to make sure the combees didn't follow us into town, but I think we were pretty safe. After that first attack, the combees started piling on top of one another to create a honeycomb wall like they were ready to defend against Mary's next move. I doubt they were ready to attack from that position. Maybe they'd return to their hives after they lost sight of us.

Or maybe they'd come kill us in our sleep, although that wasn't typical combee behavior. Maybe if they were combee vampires?

Brooke squeezed my shoulder tighter and yelled, "One of these days, you're going to get us in so much trouble I'm going to have to kill you."

Some women overreact to everything.

Like I thought, the bees didn't follow us into the village. Once we made it to the dirt road, it was an easy walk into the village. _Walking _backward with Brooke's fingers in my shoulder was much easier than _running_. Crazy woman had fingers like biceps! It felt like she physically grabbed my rotator cuff and yanked it apart.

It was strange seeing the village shrink in my view as I moved backward through the streets. At this time of day, just about everyone was wandering out to supper. I waved to my friends and neighbors as each and every one of them shook their heads at me. It was unfortunate that Brooke's being mad at me wasn't a unique situation. And I felt a little disappointed that no one tried to stop her. They just watched me with fear in their eyes. Some friends.

"You can let go now," I told Brooke.

"No, I can't," she argued. Her grip got tighter. "I'm not letting you go until we see the elder and he gives you a sufficient punishment."

I gave one good, sudden yank to pull my shoulder away from her. She scowled at me, but it was nothing I hadn't seen before. "Stop treating me like a child."

"Stop _acting_ like a child," she countered immediately.

I paused. "I am not acting!"

Craig gave me a push. "I agree with Brooke. You're going to see the elder." Brooke gave me a snide grin, satisfied that she was going to get her way. "You're _both_ going." So maybe not her _exact_ way.

As I laughed at her, she asked, "What? What did I do?" I understand why she sounded exasperated considering she was nothing more than a witness to my voluntary audacity, but I found it funny rather than justified.

"Just tell the elder exactly what happened," Craig told us with a worried look on his face. What was he concerned about? _I'm_ the one who was about to sit through another boring lecture about not meeting my potential and putting my and my sister's lives at risk.

The elder's house was exactly six hundred and forty-seven steps from the village entrance we used. I know that very well because I counted the steps every day since I learned how to count. I lived in the elder's house, which is what made it pretty routine for him to be the one reprimanding me on days when I did something to break the rules.

I wasn't nearly as scared of walking through that door as Brooke was. For her, getting in trouble was something to fear, but for me, it was a habit. Brooke always said I was predictable: I broke the rules on days that end in Y. She's a regular comedian, that one.

The elder was waiting for us by the fireplace in the sitting room. This was a room decorated with pictures of the elder's entire family line, including grandfathers who were elders and cousins who grew up and left the village. It was a way of setting the atmosphere of the room. He received villagers in that room every day, and he wanted them to feel comfortable like they were in their own homes. The village elder kind of saw himself as a father figure for the entire village, which made absolutely _everyone_ my brothers and sisters.

"I brought them, Eddie."

"Thank you, Craig," the elder spoke. "Please leave us."

Uh oh. No witnesses. That meant I was in big trouble—like double-digit groundings.

Except Brooke wasn't dismissed. Did that mean she was in trouble, too? If she was getting grounded because of me, I was going to have to sleep with one eye open, and doing that always gave me a headache.

"This is your fault," she grumbled to me.

"Way ahead of you."

The elder was not as old as you'd expect from a man with the title Village Elder. He was actually in pretty good physical shape. He still performed more physical labor on any given day than I did. His hair was thinning terribly and his gut was starting to outgrow the rest of him, but he was generally a welcoming presence and a friendly man. Everyone in the village loved him and revered him for his wisdom: He always picked a fair punishment for my indiscretions, and it wasn't his fault that I refused to learn my lessons.

This situation was a little weird, though. He was wearing his Natrium scarf, the sign of the Village Elder. He always wore that when receiving villagers, but he never wore it to eat supper. Today he wore it through the entire meal. And the whole time, he stared into the fireplace instead of looking at us. Something was off.

"Are you aware the waterfall is off limits?" he asked. That one was directed to me.

"Yes."

He took a short pause before continuing. "Neither of you is old enough to take the mountain path without adult supervision." That one wasn't a question, but it was directed to both of us.

"I'll be sixteen in two months," Brooke pointed out. Rookie mistake; never get defensive when being reprimanded. The only change it can effect is to make things worse.

"That doesn't change the rules," the elder said. "Every rule enacted for this village has a purpose. You can't go breaking the rules just because you don't like them or they interfere with your fun." His voice displayed increased emotion, but it wasn't really anger. It almost sounded like fear.

I asked, "What's going on?" His current attitude was making me nervous. Even Brooke seemed to pick up on it.

He paused for a very long time before saying anything. "How much did you see at the bottom of the waterfall?"

What? Why did that matter?

"I didn't see anything but water," Brooke told him.

"And you, Gus?"

He had me stumped this time. I couldn't figure out where he was going with this. "Um… I hit my head on the way down, so I didn't see a whole lot." That's when I remembered the pointy-headed pokémon and the blond guy with the cape. And the giant pokémon, too. "There was some guy down there. He had a pokémon, and there was also a tunnel that some giant fish exploded from."

Finally, the elder made eye contact. "What guy? Who was he?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea. I've never seen him before."

"What about the fish? Was it a mermaid?"

"A mermaid?"

The elder looked crazed. "A mermaid! Did it look half human and half fish?"

I tried to think about it, but it was hard to get a really good look with my face buried in the rocks. "When it burst out of the cave, I thought it was going to hit me. I covered my head. I only briefly caught a glimpse of the tail before it submerged. It was definitely a scaly, blue fish tail."

"What's going on?" Brooke asked. "What's the big deal with that pokémon?"

The elder took a step away from us. "That mermaid was Clendine, the guardian spirit of the village. A long time ago, she was sealed inside a special pokéball underneath the waterfall. Craig saw her out at sea while he was fishing, and your story corroborates his claim that it was the legendary mermaid pokémon. Now that she's been released, the balance of nature is shifting uncontrollably."

"Is that why the bees came after us like that?" I assumed.

He took another step back. "Yes." He dropped his head and closed his eyes. "I'm afraid without Clendine sealed in the Undine Temple, the pokémon in this area will go wild. They may even attack people without provocation. The village should provide safe refuge for the most part, but the outside areas will offer no protection." He approached the fireplace again and took a box from the mantle overhead. He set it gently on the coffee table in front of Brooke and me and opened the lid. Inside were three pokéballs.

"What's this?" Brooke asked.

Without making eye contact, the elder said, "These are pokémon I bred just a short time ago. They are young and inexperienced, but they are strong and will grow even stronger through training."

"Cool," I uttered. "You're giving these to us?"

"Yes. I could not bear sending you away from the village without protection."

Suddenly my mind went blank and erased the last moment of conversation. "What was the reason? It almost sounded like you said you were sending us outside the village."

"I am."

"Out there with the shifting nature and the wild pokémon and the missing Clementine?"

Another step back. Now I understood it: He was distancing himself from us. That's why the scarf. He was letting us know that this decision came as Village Elder—not as the man who raised us these years.

"We're being exiled?" Brooke asked. Her face was flushed and her lower lip quivered. That was the first time I ever saw her on the verge of tears. Now she and I shared the elder's fear; we were going to be on our own for a while. "I don't understand."

"Clendine was released," the elder repeated. "The people need to know that someone is going to be punished. You wanted my attention, Gus? Well, you got it."

"But it wasn't me," I pointed out. "It was the guy with the cape and the armor and the foxy pokémon."

The elder shrugged, and now he sounded angry. "Where is this guy? _Who_ is this guy? Who else can I put the blame on? You were there! You were in a restricted area, knowingly breaking the rules and performing dangerous stunts for maybe the ten-thousandth time. Craig saw you and already spread word through the village." I understood his emotion right then. It was another way of distancing himself. If he had a reason to be mad at me, he could forget for the moment that he was about to banish me from ever coming home again. "Without proof of another person, you are the one I have to assume wandered into the temple and released Clendine. My hands are tied in this matter."

"But what about me?" Brooke cried. "I wasn't there. I wasn't under the waterfall, I wasn't in the temple, and I didn't see Clendine. Why am I being exiled with him?"

"You went there together. Craig saw you both emerge from the waterfall. The villagers are a superstitious bunch. You came into contact with Clendine. Whether you were there or not, the villagers fear you were cursed by her and that wild pokémon will target you both as long as you stay here. The combee attack didn't help your case." Fair point. They did seem to target us out of nowhere. "That's why I want you to take one of these pokémon. They will keep you safe."

"You believe it, too, don't you?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but the way the elder looked back into my eyes with childlike shyness told me I was right. "You think we're cursed by the mermaid." I didn't care about the pokémon being offered to me right then. I fixated on the stupidity of this old man favoring a superstition over my life.

"Look, Gus. It doesn't matter what I think. There are rules in the village and you continually ignore them. This time, pal, you stepped too far." He folded his arms across his chest. "I don't want to do this, but I have to. The villagers will never be able to rest as long as you are still here. Now take one of my pokémon and go pack. I expect you gone by sundown."

This was it. I'd finally gone too far. The only option the elder had left was to kick me out. No amount of pleading and crying would change his mind. Brooke tried. I just accepted it. The elder was always perfectly strict with me. He never negotiated a punishment. His decision was always fair, and it was always final.

I asked for it.

The three pokéballs seemed like the last connection I would have with the elder. He briefly explained to me what the images on top of each meant.

"Ovisepal is a grass-type, lamb pokémon. Simbder is a fire-type, feline pokémon. Canisouse is a water-type, canine pokémon. All three have their strengths that will aid you and their weaknesses to overcome. If you treat them well and train them right, any can be your best friend for life."

It didn't really make a difference to me because I didn't know much about any of them. I shuffled the three pokéballs around the table and then lifted one at random.


	3. Tackle

Tackle

"Simbder, the fire lion pokémon," the elder said with a nod. That was the pokémon I selected. "That fits. He's rambunctious and energetic like you are. You'll have your hands full with that." Under his breath, he added, "Maybe you'll get a feel for what I've dealt with." I chose not to take offense to that. I was feeling incredible guilt over my entire life.

Most of my guilt directed toward Brooke. It was my fault she was being exiled. Actually, a lot of the grief she put up with in her life was my fault. All because she had the misfortune of being adopted by the same man who adopted me. She looked terrible right then. Her face was all flushed and her eyes were bright red. I put my hand on her shoulder, but she instantly pushed me away. I didn't blame her. I was just surprised she didn't hit me.

She grabbed another of the pokéballs and the elder said, "Canisouse is a good choice. A water wolf is fierce, yet collected and intelligent. He will aid you well." As he removed the third pokéball from the table, he turned away from us. "Now please go pack. I want to make this as quick as possible."

So did I. As guilty as I felt, I also found myself mad as hell. How could the villagers be so stupid? Their superstitions were ridiculous—especially the idea that wild pokémon would wander into the village just to find me. I convinced myself quickly that I'd be better off without them. I wouldn't want to stick around and have them judge me constantly. I'd dealt with that enough in my life. Everyone always knew exactly what my problem was or exactly what I needed to do. I always put up with it, but now I was sick of it. Maybe my decision to leave was long overdue.

In my bedroom, I gathered a few critical supplies for a long-term camping trip. Time away from home was common for me, and most of it involved sleeping outdoors and taking care of myself for a few days at a time. I could grab some dried meat on my way out of the village and I'd be set. Kalium Town wasn't too far away—maybe three days walking time, plus I'd have to cross the river. Once there, I was sure I could find a better life. In fact, I was so ready to go that I almost left without waiting for Brooke. She hadn't spent as much time camping as I. The very least I could offer was to stay with her for a while.

The elder was still in the den as I stopped by the doorway. He held his hand to shield his eyes even from the corner of the room he faced. He was always a commanding leader, speaking with strict sincerity and never faltering in his action. He taught me enough to know that standing in the corner was a sign of weakness and fear.

"Gus," he uttered as he turned to face me. Despite his frown, his face was stern and statuesque. He was good at hiding his emotions when he tried; I had to give him credit there. "I'm sorry it came to this."

"You have no choice. Obviously, you have to teach me a lesson."

"Gus, this is not about teaching you a lesson! This isn't about getting you to behave, or about suppressing your creative spirit, or about trying to mold you into a little version of me! This is about violating the few sacraments the villagers hold strongly to. You upset a thousand-year guardian of the village and removed her protection from us. Those guardians are there to protect the region and keep the ecosystem in balance. Letting Clendine loose will have worldwide repercussions!"

"I get the superstitious story, dad."

He frowned at me. "It's not superstition, kid. Maybe the ecosystem won't collapse instantly, but the legend of the guardians is true. Let me tell you a story. A thousand years ago, the legendary pokémon responsible for the growth and evolution of life in this region broke into war. In time, peace was achieved when they were captured by the Hydrogen Emperor and hidden throughout the region. Ever since then, this region has done pretty well, and we've been generally free of natural disasters and the pokémon are generally peaceful. As long as Clendine is gone, our ecosystem will change, and that means pokémon behavior will change. Many species will leave while others move in. And some species will simply go extinct."

"Then I'll bring her back. I'll go find the guy with spiky hair and recapture Clendine and seal her under the waterfall again."

He shook his head. "I can't promise anything in that scenario. That's even _if_ you find her."

"How hard can it be to find a giant, blue mermaid?"

"Have you ever spent time on the open seas?" He waited for a response when he already knew the answer. My only time was on land, with some minor fishing experience. "Exactly. Finding a specific fish in these waters can be incredibly difficult even for skilled fisherman. And that's assuming she isn't out there making her way deeper into the ocean. She could be halfway to Sinnoh by now."

"Then what do you think I should do, huh, since you have all the answers?"

Now the elder stopped and looked at me sincerely. "I think this is an opportunity for you. The villagers here are not the kind of people to appreciate your antics. They never have been. But you have a brain in there if you can ever learn how to parse the good ideas from the bad ones. When you enter that great, big world out there, you will find the place you belong."

He was really good at the speech thing. His grandiose optimism seeped over and made me feel a little bit hopeful. That bastard actually made it sound like a good thing that he was kicking me out of my home. I hated him for that.

"Brooke doesn't deserve this," I pointed out.

He nodded once and kept his head low. He couldn't make eye contact anymore. "I agree. That's the decision I made as a father."

"What? Is this supposed to be some grand selflessness for her, too? Is sending her out into the world supposed to make it a better place?"

The elder very quickly turned angry with me. He pulled his face so close I couldn't even see his nose unless I backed up—which I wouldn't do because that was another sign of weakness I wasn't willing to give him.

"If you're asking me if Brooke is smart enough and talented enough to make a name for herself somewhere greater than this little village, then the answer is an emphatic and resounding 'yes.' But if you're asking me whether I think you are ready to be on your own without supervision, then the answer is quite the opposite. Believe it or not, Gus, I've been paying attention to your growth. You haven't shown the best judgment, and I can't be out there to save you every time you do something stupid."

"So you're sending Brooke to do it for you? That's so unfair, for both of us."

"And yet, this is also what the villagers want." Mocking me, he added, "Stupid superstitions, remember? You were both there at the Undine Temple. They see you as a single entity in this offense, and I must act as the village elder and fulfill their wishes to maintain the peace."

I scoffed right in his face. "Yeah, I get it. Hiding behind your title to avoid having to make a real decision. Just know you live with any consequences."

"I do that every day I let you go outside unsupervised," he replied, not backing down from me. He was a formidable opponent.

"Well done. I guess you win again. I'll just be going now."

As soon as I reached the door, he yelled, "Hey, Gus!" I stopped, but I wouldn't turn around to look at him if he offered me a million dollars. "Take a million dollars."

"What?"

"I said _take care_. Okay? Don't get hurt." He quickly added, "Look, head north toward the salt mines. It's a little out of the way from Kalium Town, but I have an old friend out there by the name of Max. He can help you."

"Yeah, yeah. Like I want your help."

I know I said I'd wait for Brooke, but I didn't want to do it inside. The air outside was cooling down as the sun began its descent behind the trees, and villagers were walking along the streets, most of them away from the café where everyone eats supper. I waved to my lifelong neighbors, but every last one of them turned away from me. A few even went so far as to turn around and go back into the restaurant just to stay out of sight. The elder was right; these superstitious freaks thought I was bad luck.

I can't remember how long I stood there, disbelieving the entire village would shun me like that. Eventually, a tearful and red-faced Brooke emerged from the door behind me.

"Oh. You're still here?"

Not quite the reaction I expected. "I just thought…"

"Yeah, yeah." She brushed right past me and headed for the village's north entrance. No doubt the elder told her the same thing about going to see his "old friend." Did she accept his last ditch effort to buy back our affection?

I couldn't leave her alone. She didn't know how to handle herself camping. She'd need my help, especially if combees and other pokémon were really acting wild all of a sudden. I narrowed the gap between us and followed her out of the village with every eye watching until we disappeared completely into the woods.

"Brooke? Brooke! Where are we going?"

She laughed. "I haven't got the foggiest idea where we're going. I know where _I'm_ going. I want you going somewhere else."

"Look, I know you're mad at me now and you have every right to be, but don't you think the best thing for us to do right now is stick together and help one another out?"

She stopped so suddenly I almost walked into her, but given that fierce look in her eye as she turned, it probably would have been like walking into a brick wall. I hadn't seen a glare that intense in a long time. Two weeks, at least!

"I think you've helped enough," she snarled.

Then she did something I didn't really expect: She pulled her newly-obtained pokéball from her belt and pressed the button in the middle. The ball popped open and spilled its contents—a burst of red, electromagnetic energy—which quickly took the form of a white-and-blue wolf pup of about twenty pounds. His ears were pointy and his entire head was very T-shaped from his cheeks down his snout.

"Aw. He's adorable," I said. And I don't know what that girl did to make such an immediate connection with her pokémon, but the second I reached for that canisouse's head, he snapped at me, narrowly missing my fingertips, and began barking angrily, stopping only momentarily to growl. "Friendly, too." If I were blind, I wouldn't be able to tell the two of them apart.

"Let's battle it out right now," she demanded.

"A pokémon battle?"

"No, a thumb war. _Yes_, a pokémon battle! Unless you want to take on my canisouse by yourself." Sarcasm wasn't pretty coming from her.

One more look at the snarling beast told me that would be a decision I'd certainly regret tomorrow. "No, I think I'll summon Simbder to play."

When my pokéball opened, the pokémon that emerged was a lion cub. He—I think—looked pretty strong considering he was still just a cub. His ears were huge, so I imagined his hearing to be quite keen, and he had fur that was golden-brown with just a hint of a few red spots. The two pokémon looked at one another for just a moment. Canisouse bared his teeth and Simbder put on a cat-like smile. I fell in love right then.

"Go!" Brooke shouted. "He's a fire-type so use Water Gun!"

Canisouse stopped snarling and tilted his head. He looked confused.

"Then try Bubble!"

Canisouse still didn't attack. He just sat there.

"Oh, fine. Just use a Tackle attack."

Finally, the pup leapt and threw his weight. Simbder was quick to run aside and avoid the attack. But instead of counterattacking, he seemed to think Canisouse was playing with him. He just watched as the pup regained his bearings and growled before attacking again. Simbder was more nimble, able to avoid the attack again.

And then he just started running around. In an effort to catch him and complete the attack Brooke demanded, Canisouse began to chase Simbder in giant circles around us two trainers.

"What is your stupid cat doing?" she asked me. "This is no way to have a battle!"

"It looks like fun," I admitted. "Simbder is obviously enjoying himself." And he may have been the only one. Canisouse looked just as frustrated as Brooke.

The hilarity peaked when Simbder stopped very suddenly, turned around, and then pounced low on his pursuer. He caught the pup completely off guard and knocked the air out of him as he flipped him over and slammed him to the ground. Simbder just stood there, leaning on top of Canisouse with a cat-like smile and a friendly mew. He even leaned forward and licked Canisouse's fur as an apology for hurting him.

"You got lucky," Brooke grumbled. She intentionally bumped my shoulder as she pushed past me and approached her pokémon. Mine jumped off his victim and darted a few feet away like he thought Brooke was going to play with him. He looked very disappointed when he realized she wasn't going to chase him.

"Aw. I'll play with you," I decided. I smiled at Simbder, crouched down like I was getting ready to pounce, and then started to run after him. He looked elated as he started to lead me in zigzags around the trees.

Brooke scoffed. "They're both children."


	4. Glare

Glare

Darkness fell quickly. Then again, we left the village around suppertime. When it got too dark to see the path beyond six feet in front of us, Brooke and I stopped to set up camp—just a small fire and a rolled-up jacket for a pillow. Neither of us bothered to draw our pokémon back into their pokéballs yet. I felt like I was building a relationship with Simbder, and that would be a lot harder if I kept him trapped inside a little ball smaller than my fist. I imagine it to be quite cramped in there—sleeping with his feet and elbows in his face all the time.

I wore Simbder out chasing him through the trees earlier. He was curled up near the fire almost from the moment the first spark ignited the tinder. It looked like he was asleep, but every time I stroked his fur he twitched and stretched his neck and legs again.

"There's nothing sadder than a guy getting so weak over a cat," Brooke remarked.

"Get over yourself. He's cute."

"You're pathetic."

"You're just mad because you lost your first battle to this cat."

"Give me time." She rubbed Canisouse's head and scratched him behind the ears. He really liked that. His head lolled straight back and his tongue hung out a kilometer. He let out a cute little growl as he yawned.

Unable to see really anything beyond our little campsite, I just sat there, leaning against a tree trunk, listening to the sounds of the woods. Dozens of insects in the woods buzzed and chirped through the night air. Hoothoots sat in the trees around us hooting to each other and the entire night sky to claim their territories. Occasionally, one even flew overhead on its way to or from a meal. Closer to me, the fire crackled softly as it faded into the night. I'd already eaten some of the food I brought with me, so before long, I planned to lie down and sleep until dawn. Tomorrow was going to be a long day if we wanted to make good progress on our way to the mines.

"Do you think the elder was right?" she asked softly.

"I keep telling you, fishing is not a real sport."

"Not that."

"Then what? The part about soap operas being accurate depictions of the human condition?"

"Are we cursed?"

_Oh, that._ I didn't have an immediate response. I know I told the elder that the villagers were stupid and superstitious, but being superstitious didn't mean there wasn't a good reason for it. I vaguely remembered hearing children's stories about a legendary pokémon living near the village, but I never knew anything specific about Clendine or the temple under the waterfall. I always took the stories with the same grain of salt as "Eat your carrots or your eyes will go bad."

She started with, "I heard the first guy who ever stole the pokéball couldn't fall asleep until the day he committed suicide."

"There's a happy thought. One problem: We didn't steal Clendine."

"The guy who took it after the first guy killed himself was then killed by revolutionists. And one of them took it only to be killed by his fiancée."

"Clearly you feel very strongly about this curse."

She continued down the list, "The next guy was hanged. Next was killed by a pack of houndours. Then a tornado touched down right on top of it, and even the tornado got killed by a flock of angry pidgeots." I zoned out through much of what she was saying, so some of my memory may be slightly inaccurate, but she had an entire chronology of Clendine being stolen from the shrine and every single owner dying in some way or another until Clendine ended up right back in the shrine a few years after she left.

"There's no such thing as a curse," I objected.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" I tried to put away my smug look and replace it with a sympathetic one, but her angry glance told me I didn't do a very good job of it. "Look, the curse was just an invention to keep people away from the shrine. People are less likely to break the rules if they think it will get them killed." I know, but I said _less_ likely.

"But what about the stories?"

"Last year, I carved a life-size cheese statue of the elder just so I could kick it in the cheese balls and then serve it as appetizer at a party."

She made a face at me. "That never happened."

I nodded. "That's how easy it is to come up with a story. I can make a few more if you want a few more examples."

"Don't." She paused as she considered my opinion. "You really don't believe in the curse?"

"I really do not," I assured her. "But just to be safe, I no longer want to find Clendine."

Brooke clearly didn't think that was funny. Neither did I.

"Have you thought up a name for him yet?" I asked.

She sighed, but she accepted my attempt to change the subject. She stroked her pokémon's head again. "Well, obviously I can't just call him Canisouse all the time, just like I don't call you Grub."

"Don't you mean 'Human'?"

She glared at me for a moment. "Uh huh." I think she was still mad at me.

"What about Sergeant Scruffy?" I suggested.

"No!"

"Fluffy Puppington?"

"That's stupid."

"Pelter Skelter?"

"Are you trying to piss me off?"

"I am just trying to be helpful. I know you've always been really bad at coming up with nicknames, and I just want to lend my creative services."

She scoffed—very close to a laugh. "If I wanted to name my pokémon after something you do, I'd call him Annoying Dumbass."

"Now that's just mean."

"I was shooting for 'honest.'" She took in a deep breath and scratched her canisouse again. "What do you think of Lykos?"

I shrugged. "It's not the worst—"

"I wasn't asking you."

The canisouse formerly known as Canisouse rolled onto his back and invited Brooke to scratch his belly. He seemed to smile as Brooke called him Lykos a few more times. That pretty much cemented his name.

I stroked Simbder one more time and thought about what I could call him. "What do you think of Lionheart?"

"Snore," Brooke replied harshly. "'Rascal' is more accurate."

"I'm not calling him Rascal! What about The Mane Event?"

She covered her face with her hand and sank to the ground. "I'm going to sleep." From that moment, no matter what I asked her or how many suggestions for lion-like names I came up with, she didn't make a peep. What a buzz-kill.

I looked at my sleeping lion cub. "Maybe I'll just call you Regulus, like the star. What do you think?" He just happened to yawn and stretch right at that moment, but he went straight back to sleep. "Yeah, I know. It's the best I can come up with right now."

* * *

><p><strong><em>In the author's words:<em>**

_To provide the best story with solid foreshadowing, few inconsistencies, and all the most characteristic events of the games, I'm trying to write well in advance to give myself adequate time for proofreading and editing. I'm ready to start including OCs a few chapters down the line. Gus and Brooke will soon head for Kalium Town where I'll need some characters for them to meet/battle (including a gym leader!). (Thanks to those who have already submitted.)  
>If you are interested, send me a review or message with the following information:<em>

_Name:_  
><em>Age:<em>  
><em>Sex:<em>  
><em>Physical features:<em>  
><em>Personality:<em>  
><em>Occupation:<em>  
><em>Aspirations:<em>  
><em>Background:<em>  
><em>Pokémon (w names as desired):_

_I intend to include mostly existing pokémon species, but I have created 34 new ones for the purpose of having something unique about this new region. Simbder and canisouse are two such species (and they will each evolve twice). If you have an interest in giving one of my new types to your character, let me know and I'll give you the rundown._


	5. String Shot

String Shot

Luckily the salt mines weren't too far from Natrium Village. I'd thought they'd be closer considering they had basically the same name, but at least we found the base of the mountains before sundown the next day. I didn't think to bring a map, which would have gotten me lost without Brooke because the mines were not due north from Natrium. Brooke had one, though, and so we located the north-by-northeast detour we had to take to get there. The map called the location Phosphor Pass for some historical reason I couldn't look up because I wasn't allowed back in the Natrium Library.

It looked like a small cluster of mountains, or maybe a large cluster of teepees. Big rocks shaped like triangles jutting into the sky in front of a range of rolling mountains that were much more uniform in shape. I wondered which part hid the entrance to the mine. It wasn't clearly marked on the map. Brooke did notice a small hut carefully built from stone with a wooden roof and a fire blazing out front. There was a spit over it with a skewered spoink roasting—that pig pokémon sure looked good after a day of rationing my food, and the smell was almost intoxicating.

"Who do you think lives there?" I asked Brooke.

"Some nut," she replied dryly. Her anger hadn't died yet, for her or her canisouse. Lykos still threatened me anytime I came within a meter of him. Little puppy didn't know any moves better than Tackle yet, but he looked ready to Bite any minute. I think I made the right choice by claiming the more playful simbder.

And that very same, playful simbder rushed forward when he caught a whiff of that roasting meat and tackled the spit. The weak legs cracked and dropped the pig meat straight to the ground, where Reggie began tearing chunks with his razor teeth and swallowing them whole.

"Oh, no," I uttered just before Brooke punched me in the arm. Hard. "Ow?" I said to her, hoping to draw some level of sympathy.

"Go control your rotten pokémon!" she urged me. She hit me again.

"Ow! I'm going."

I couldn't believe Reggie would just knock an entire spoink into the dirt like that. It was all gross now while he ate like he'd never get the chance to eat again. I snatched it from him and tried to brush the dirt off. "Bad kitty," I told him. "You can't just go take someone else's food like that." Admittedly, it smelled good, though. I tore off a small piece, inspected it to see it was relatively clean, and then popped it into my mouth.

"Eww!" Brooke screamed at me.

"What? It's just a little dirt."

Suddenly the door to the hut swung open with such force I thought it might knock the whole thing down. I only saw two feet at first, clad in torn work boots. Jeans stretched and tattered from years of wear and work covered his lower body, and a salmon-colored polo shirt showing years of stains and air exposure guarded his chest. His neck was crooked like a vulture's and he had a huge overbite. But most grabbing was the mustache on his face. He had only a small patch of white hair on top of his head because the rest of it grew under his nose. He lacked a beard completely, but he had a mustache that hung in the air wider than his shoulders.

And his eyes had a fire in them like a mad man. He carried a huge knife in his hands and I knew this was it.

I let out a scream. A hideous, bloodcurdling, high-pitched scream.

"Shut up!" the man shrieked at me, his voice gurgling under the strain.

I managed to stop the scream, but I felt like tears could burst out at any minute. "Are you going to eat us?"

He looked at me with intense disgust. This old man must have been the one the Elder recommended to us—Max something. "No, I'm not going to eat you. I _am_ going to make you catch me another spoink." He handed me a pokéball. It was lighter than most pokéballs I'd come across. Even lighter than Reggie's pokéball was. It must have been empty.

The man picked up a piece of the spoink and examined it, but not for dirt; he wanted to see how well done it was. He took a bite into it and tore off a chunk of meat.

"Gross," Brooke uttered.

"The pig was rolling around in the mud _before_ I cooked it. There's no real difference now," Old Man Max defended his behavior.

That confused me. "Wait. If it's still good, then why are you making me catch you a new one?"

"This spoink weighs sixty pounds," he explained. "Take away the tail, the snout, the bones, and a few of the less edible organs and we're left with only ten pounds of meat. That's not going to feed all of us for very long."

"You're inviting us to stay?" asked Brooke incredulously.

"No," he snapped in reply. "But you came to me, and you're obviously hungry, so it would be rude to turn you away without feeding you. But I still have to eat so you'll earn your keep." He motioned to Brooke and said, "You tend to the garden out back."

She asked, "Why do I have to do it?"

"You'd rather get on your hands and knees to capture a spoink?"

"Yes, frankly. I already know how to capture pokémon. There are tips and tricks noted in the Pokédex the elder gave me." She produced a small, red tile from her pocket. I had seen that before in one of the Elder's desk drawers in his study—right before he told me I didn't belong in there and grounded me for a week.

"He gave you his Pokédex?" I shouted. Then I looked to the man and asked, "What's a Pokédex?"

"Good grief, kid," Old Man Max grunted as he reached down and yanked me off the ground and to my feet with impressive ease. I bet the guy could bench press a car. "Take the pokéball. Spoinks will be much harder to find once the sun sets. Better get going."

"Cool," I uttered. "I've always wanted to catch a wild pokémon. How does it work?"

The man had started going back inside the hut, but he stopped abruptly and slowly swung himself back out. He looked me right in the eye as if to scrutinize my words. He looked like a human lie detector the way he watched me, like he could actually see my pulse to tell that I was clueless.

"Do you mean to say you're a pokémon trainer and you don't even know how to capture pokémon?"

"Yes. Although technically I'm not really a trainer. I've only had Reggie here for two days.

"Reggie?"

"Short for Regulus."

Max smiled at me. I think it was a smile, anyway. He might have been gagging. "Alright, kid. I'll show you how it's done. Girl, go retrieve some tomatoes and some lettuce from the garden. Aphrodite's back there now. Ask her if you need help."

"Why do I have to do it?"

"This guy can't even tie his shoes."

I started laughing. "Can't even tie my…" When I looked down, I realized my shoes were, in fact, untied. "I do that on purpose. It facilitates blood flow through the foot. Helps it grow. I go through shoes, like, every four months. It gets really expensive really fast."

"You love to talk, don't you, kid? Well you'd better find the 'shut up' button if you ever plan to catch any wild pokémon. Too much noise sends them running. Now let's go. The spoinks dwell this way."

Basically abandoning Brooke at the hut, Old Man Max took me into the woods a fair ways. I got lost pretty much the instant we lost sight of the hut. I really hoped this guy wasn't just bringing me out here to kill me where there were no witnesses. At least Reggie was still following us, as eager to play as ever. But did "playtime" include rescuing me from a homicidal maniac? Boy, I hoped so.

I waited a full two minutes before asking, "How far are we going?"

"Did you not understand what I said about scaring off the spoinks? Stop talking." He stopped abruptly and held his arm in front of me to block my forward motion. With his other hand, he held a finger over his lips, then pointed into the trees. I didn't see anything at first. Tree branches dangled in my view and it was fairly dark with the leaves blocking most of the remaining sunlight. But I did hear something that sounded like a spring.

Suddenly I noticed the movement in the underbrush. It was a short critter, gray in color with a pinkish pearl on top of its head. The body of the critter was rounded and pudgy, its arms were basically nonfunctional, and its curly tail was wound so tightly as to provide locomotion via a springy bounce.

"Oh, hey!" I wanted to say I saw it, but Old Man Max smacked me in the back of the head. It was just with his hand, but it felt hard enough to have been a board.

"You scared it off," the old man grunted. Unfortunately, he was right. The springy pig began hurriedly bouncing away from us. It traveled maybe a half a meter per bounce, giving it a land speed of approximately three-and-a-half kilometers per hour. I walk home faster than that.

"You think it's so easy?" Old Man Max asked me.

I saw something else moving through the underbrush much faster than three kilometers per hour. It looked like a mole in the brush until the moment it emerged into the field and lunged at the spoink. It was Reggie, and he was fast for a little guy.

"Come back!" I shouted and started after my cub, but Old Man Max stopped me.

With a smirk, he offered, "Here's how it generally works. You've got to weaken the target before you throw that ball; otherwise you risk damaging it. The best trainers use their pokémon to do it. And this is a lesson you should learn early."

Reggie tackled the spoink, but somehow it flipped over and landed right back on its spring. I expected it to tackle back as Reggie lunged forward while swiping furiously, but instead a white light flashed between them and shoved Reggie backward through the brush.

"Spoinks are psychic-types. But! That pearl is what makes them so strong. Take away the pearl, and they weaken tremendously."

That begged the question, though. "How do you take away the pearl?"

Old Man Max grinned, which made him look a little evil. "String Shot." At the sound of his words, a thin strand fired from the tree overhead and latched onto the pearl on the spoink's head. I looked up and stumbled at the sight of a giant, spider-like pokémon. Its body was red with two black stripes, had four long, thin legs with two more on its abdomen, and a rear that produced the web.

"Is that an ariados?" I asked. "Where did it come from?"

"She's mine," Max replied. "Like I said, trainers use their existing pokémon to capture new ones. I let her out when we first entered the woods. Remember what I said about frightening pokémon? Releasing one from its pokéball will frighten others. The only way to make up for frightening your target is to be faster. Luckily, your simbder seems pretty quick, and resilient."

His comment was reference to the fact that Reggie was knocked down just a moment ago, but after the ariados took spoink's pearl, Reggie tackled the springy pokémon and pinned it to the ground, looking back to me for the rules to the next game.

"It looks weak enough now," Max said. "Throw that pokéball."

"Just throw it?"

"Yep. The technology in the ball will react to the presence of the pokémon and draw it in."

"Won't it grab Reggie? He's on top over there."

"Your pokémon is possessed by an electromagnetic signal that marks him. Other pokéballs won't work on him until you set him free. Give it a try."

That sounded really cool. The technology in pokéballs must be pretty high-class. I didn't realize they tagged each captured pokémon to prevent other balls from catching them again. In that case, all I had to do was throw accurately. I pulled my arm back and let the pokéball fly straight at the spoink. It felt like a lucky throw, but I think the pokéball was also drawn to it like a magnet. It hit the spoink in the side and transformed it into a burst of red energy, which then drew inside the pokéball.

"Alright!" I shouted.

"Hold your horses," Old Man Max warned me. He motioned toward the pokéball and I noticed it twitch. "You're never guaranteed a capture. If you haven't done a good enough job weakening it, it can still fight back, and most of the time, any pokémon that breaks out ends up damaging the pokéball in the process."

"Couldn't we just knock it out every time and make it work?"

"Well, knocking it unconscious will make things easier, but you gotta make sure you don't kill it by accident. Pokéballs don't work on inanimate objects."

The pokéball stopped twitching and the device in the center of the face clicked. "Does that mean it's caught?"

"Yep."

"Awesome! I caught a pokémon!" Reggie responded to my enthusiasm by grabbing the pokéball in his jowls and carrying it back over to me. I accepted it from him and scratched between his ears, earning a purr as loud as a motor in his belly.

Old Man Max yanked the pokéball from my grip. "You caught _supper_," he reminded me. "Come on, kid. Let's go eat."

* * *

><p><strong><em>In the author's words:<em>**

_Thanks to those who have submitted OCs. They will begin showing up in the story in four more chapters. (I need time to get Gus in gear.) I will continue to accept them until further notice._

_One thing that is always difficult in pokémon stories is the presence of animals or animal terms. There does not seem to be widespread consensus as to the presence of earthen animals in the pokémon world, and they never show up in the games (my primary inspiration). I don't know what answer is right, but this is how I see it: The use of animal terms (such as "vulture's neck") acts to describe general characteristics (much the same way we might use the term "feline"). I won't make up an entire etymological history for each word, but from a writer's perspective, such words help make for easy descriptions. Not everyone will agree with me, I'm sure, but as long as I'm consistent, you know what to expect when you see me use words like that._

_I don't know if I'm among the first people to consider eating pokémon the same way we eat other animals. Without the existence of other animals, this seemed like a probabilistic outcome of that world.  
><em>


	6. Howl

Howl

I spent so long that evening playing with Reggie I actually wore myself out. I lay on the grass staring at the clouds tinged orange by the fading twilight and considering drifting off to sleep right then and there. The little guy, on the other hand, had so much energy leftover that he wasn't done playing just because I was too tired. He walked up next to me and stared at me hopefully for a moment. When I didn't budge, he reached with his forepaw and began poking me in the arm.

"Reggie, give me a chance to catch my breath." I reached out and rubbed his head, but that was all I could muster. I lay there for another moment while Reggie rubbed his face against my hand, trying to force the affection from my nearly lifeless bones. Sleep seemed so inviting to me, yet out of my grasp as long as this fur ball continue to jab me. Finally I got up off the grass and suggested we go have a second supper. "Maybe a leftover spoink sandwich," I suggested.

"It's about time you two stopped wasting time," Brooke told me upon arrival. She was much more methodical when she spent time with Lykos. A little deeper into the woods, she explained to her canisouse how each attack worked, ran drills to make the motions flawless, and helped him learn a variety of techniques in a very short time frame. He looked like a pretty formidable foe already.

But Reggie was still just a little kid. I wanted him to have that for a while. One of these days, someone might force him to grow up and kick him out of his home.

The hut was really small, but it was somewhat nice to have a place I was still welcome-ish, if I ignored Max's obvious glare whenever Brooke or I spoke. It had one table fashioned out of wood and a bed made from a collection of straw with a thick blanket on top. Otherwise, the hut was filled with books. Lots of books with huge words that nobody understands like _avuncular_ and _oxidation_ and _laboratory_. Brooke was actually looking through one of them while I ate. I opened one of the books and immediately shut it when all that dust almost made me lose my appetite.

"Why are you reading this stuff?"

She didn't even look at me while she replied. "These books are older than the Elder. I figure maybe I can _learn_ something. I realize learning is uncharted territory for you." She turned a page, proving she was actually capable of reading and putting me down at the same time.

"So is reading. Let me know when these books come out on video."

"There's no electricity here, and you have to go all the way to the river to find running water. Reading is a much better way to pass the time. I imagine it gets lonely out here."

"Where is Old Man Max, anyway?" I asked. After showing me how to catch a spoink and roasting it for supper, he was almost immediately gone, somewhere outside and away from the hut. Probably on one of those walks old people are always taking. "I'm starting to think he lives out here to get away from all people."

Brooke stared at me for a moment, unable to tell if I was being serious. I was. "The levels of your genius are simply unattainable by mortal man," she commented dryly. She leaned away from the book she was browsing and said, "I don't know what the Elder expected us to learn from this guy. The journals here are mostly gibberish and he left as soon as we ate. Not exactly teacher of the year."

"I do not gibber," Old Man Max said as he stepped through the door to the hut. He looked like he could be a hundred years old, and he had a lot of fight left in him. "And that fool elder of yours is probably trying to punish me for beating him in numerous battles when we were younger. Or else he's punishing you two. What did you do?"

"It was a prank that went horribly wrong," I answered. "It involved a trap door, some newspaper, and the neighbor's skitty accidentally caught on fire." Max smirked, but Brooke just glared at me. "Fine," I sighed. "We were nearby when someone freed Clendine."

"Isn't that a laundry detergent?"

"That's what I thought," I replied, feeling justified as I shot Brooke a smug look.

"We've been cursed," Brooke clarified. "We're no longer welcome at home."

"Because of this Clendine thing?"

Brooke still had difficulty talking about it, so I explained, "Basically, he said Clendine was a legendary pokémon that assured balance of the ecosystem in the region. He claimed that letting her out of the temple will cause pokémon to become more violent and the climate to change."

"I get it. That village always was an incredibly superstitious bunch of idiots. But I'm afraid there's not much I can do to help you. I'm just an old man who hates people enough to live out in the mountains by himself. You're welcome to stay the night, but if you really want to move on with your life, I recommend heading for Kalium Town in the morning. You'll have to cross the river to get there, but there's a ferry that makes regular crossings during the day."

Brooke rolled her eyes. "There's really nothing at all you can do for us?"

"Nothing comes to mind."

She made little effort to hide her disappointment. "What a waste of time."

"How do you know the Elder?" I asked. Brooke looked at me with surprise. I'd seen that look each time I exceeded the previous limits of danger. She probably never thought to ask such a simple question because she was too busy mocking Old Man Max and his rustic living situation.

"I lived in Natrium Village once," the old man answered. "It was a long time ago. I was a pokémon trainer back then. Eddie was the elder's son, eager to assert his dominance in all displays of power."

"That's pretty cool," I said, disappointed I didn't size Max up as a trainer when I first saw him. "So you must have been pretty good."

"I won a few battles. I lost a lot. I beat your Elder every time, but to be fair, I have twenty years on him. Aphrodite is the first pokémon I ever had. That old girl's lived a long time, and she's still as strong as she ever was."

"Is that your ariados?" I asked.

He scowled. "No! An ariados can only live up to forty years. You want hundred-year-old pokémon, you look for sea life or plants."

"Oh, like your venusaur!" His venusaur was monstrous and super creepy. My opinion is slightly colored by the fact that she's a giant quadruped with a tree growing from her back, and she spends a lot of time standing completely still. I didn't even realize she _wasn't_ a tree until Reggie began sniffing around her and she yawned loudly. It made sense for her to be so quiet and immobile if she was eighty years old, too.

"If she's so strong," Brooke challenged, "why waste her tending to the garden?"

"Because she loves to do it, and she's good at it. Got a real kinship with nature, being half-animal, half-plant. We both help to sustain each other out here."

"That's sweet. A man and his pokémon," she mocked.

"If you don't like it, you can leave now. You probably won't be able to sleep, anyway, thanks to the howling in the caves."

"What howling?"

He looked straight into the wall, behind which were the salt mines. "That blasted racket coming from the mine!" Like a paranoid man screaming at imaginary things. "Started about a week ago. Been keeping me up every night since. I'm not in the physical condition to go spelunking," he pointed out, looking back to me and Brooke. "I'm eighty-four years old. One fall and I'm as good as dead. Who would come help me?" He suddenly looked at me with a wicked smirk, the kind of look he might give to his next victim.

"What if you kids took care of it for me?" Old Man Max suggested.

"Us?" Brooke asked incredulously.

"You mean we're allowed in there?" I asked him curiously. "It's not against safety regulations or anything?"

He made a face at me. "If you're going to travel, you need to get used to making your own decisions."

Brooke added, "Yeah, but why do we have to put ourselves in that kind of danger? Why not just send your venusaur in there?"

"I just said that venusaur is as old as I am. Her joints are stiffer than rocks. It takes an hour for her to get all the way around the garden. She'd be as much a sitting psyduck as I would be. I said she's strong, not nimble."

Brooke shook her head. "No. You're the one stuck out here in the middle of nowhere unable to sleep. I'm not risking my neck in some abandoned mine shift. It's probably riddled with disease and ready to collapse any minute."

"If it were going to collapse, it would have done so with all the sound waves bouncing around from the howling!"

It was kinda fun watching the stare-down between Brooke and the old man. I wondered who was going to blink first. They were both pretty stubborn. Personally, I had no problem just going into the cave. What was the worst that could happen down there? It might even be kinda fun. Who knows what kind of treasures could be found in an abandoned mine? But this was hilarious. Even Lykos looked on edge.

Finally, Brooke said, "What do I get out of it?"

He shrugged. "Maybe I'll tell you something about your parents."

For thirty seconds, time may as well have stood still. Brooke didn't twitch at all, and I was struck speechless. After fifteen years of the Elder failing to shut me up, this old man did it on the first day he met me, and with a topic I got smacked for mentioning once.

"Eddie never told you about them, did he?" Old Man Max added. "I'll tell you what I know if you stop the howling."

Brooke slowly took in a deep breath. She folded her arms across her chest, then unfolded them and folded them again. She never talked much about her birth parents. I asked her about them one time when we were maybe eight, but she hit me and became very distant for weeks and so I never asked again. I couldn't tell what she was thinking about right then.

"Fine."

"Good," Old Man Max said with a smile. He grabbed a book and sat down at the table, practically shoving Brooke out of the seat. "I'll be right here until you get back. Try to hurry. You don't want to lose all the light. Take earplugs, just in case."

Brooke looked ready to punch him—a look I recognized in her through vast experience—so I grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door. "Let's just go. We leave sooner, we finish faster, and then we get out of here. That's what you want, right?"

She pushed me away from her. "Don't patronize me."

That attitude made a trip into the mine all the more fun. The mine entrance faced west, which meant we had a fair deal of sunlight on our way in, but it disappeared pretty quickly as soon as the mine shaft turned. Luckily we each carried flashlights from our camping gear. It didn't make visibility perfect, but it certainly helped. Reggie wasn't bothered by the darkness so much. He darted well ahead of me, anticipating my moves and staring back at me with those bright, shiny eyes.

Suddenly something brushed up against the back of my shirt. I immediately panicked that it was some hideous cave-dweller ready to feast on me, so I jumped away and spun in the air to confront the creature with a bunch of wrestling moves I'd seen on TV and was pretty sure I could emulate perfectly without any practice.

All I saw was Brooke. She gave me a weird look. "Geez. Jumpy much?"

"You shouldn't be so close to me," I replied. "I could have hurt you."

"Yeah, by stepping on my foot."

"Why _are_ you so close?" I wondered aloud. "It's not cold and I know for a fact you don't like me." The clues fell together quickly and drew a smile across my face. "Are you scared of the dark?"

"I'm scared of breaking my knuckles when I punch you in the face." She stormed past me and took the lead through the cave. Suddenly _I_ was scared of the dark, or at least of being in the dark alone with Brooke.

Another sixty meters of walking and the walls disappeared. At first it looked like we were walking straight into a black hole—even the flashlights offered little to see—but the walls were still present behind me. Walking with my hand on the wall, I realized we entered some sort of junction point. It was a fairly wide open space with six different paths to take from there. Suddenly the difficulty with finding the source of the howling increased tremendously. Maybe Max was delusional and there was really nothing to find in there.

Focusing on the positives, I noticed a lantern hanging on the cave wall. I would have loved to ask Reggie to light it, but he still seemed a bit behind on the fire techniques. Well, I say _behind_, but I base that on the expectations Brooke had for Lykos. I didn't really know what to expect from him. It's not like _I_ could use fire techniques. I did carry a book of matches, though. There wasn't a whole lot of oil left in the lantern, but there was apparently enough to light up that side of the cave. That light was enough for me to notice a second lantern, which I lit with another match.

Finally I could see the cave pretty well. It was about as descriptive as one might expect a cave to be, but there was some leftover mining equipment, all of it rusted or broken. Brooke wasn't impressed by my ingenuity with the lights but she was noticeably more relaxed.

"Which way?" she asked me.

I tried to lift a pick off the ground, but it might as well have grown out of the rocks. I couldn't even get it to budge. "How should I know? Can't Lykos pick up some kind of scent?"

Brooke looked to her pokémon and asked him, "How about it? Can you smell anything unusual down here?" Lykos whimpered softly in reply and began sniffing the rocky floors. He walked a complete circle around the space, stopped in front of one passage, and looked up to Brooke with no discernible look of understanding on his face. "Let's go that way," she determined.

"It's amazing how well you read that puppy's mind," I commented sardonically as I failed to move a wheelbarrow.

"Why are you playing all the equipment?" she snapped at me.

I dropped my hands to my side as if I'd done nothing wrong. "No reason. Just seeing what's what in here." She just groaned and walked away.

We took two steps into the passage when we were suddenly engulfed by a howl so intense it rattled the teeth in my head. My bones vibrated underneath my skin. I'd never felt that kind of sensation before, and being in a confined space only amplified the feeling. Covering my ears only did so much to drown out the noise. It felt like it was inside my skull. I pitied Reggie and Lykos for having such better hearing than I did.

When the sound stopped and the feeling returned to my toes, I reached down to comfort Reggie while Brooke struggled through her pain to help Lykos. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"What?" she shouted.

"Geez! Keep it down. What's wrong with you?"

"I'll be fine." This time she was quieter. She took a little longer to recover than I did.

"What the hell was that?"

"Obviously, that was the howling Max wants us to stop. Poor Lykos has sensitive ears. That really did a number on him."

"That's a good reason to get this over with," I remarked, not trying to pick a fight until after we were safe from the howling. "Let's go back this way." I stepped back out of the passage and into the open space. No doubt Lykos had trouble smelling anything other than mold and rocks in the cave. Brooke only guessed which way to go. Fortunately, I could follow a howl a thousand meters to its source.

"Where are you going?" Brooke asked me like I was an idiot. "That howl came from this tunnel."

"That was an echo. It came from that passageway."

"How do you know?"

"Which of us spent more time in the caves near Natrium?"

She put both hands on her hips. "Those caves are forbidden."

"Exactly! I know how to tell where the sound of someone screaming at me came from even when it bounces around the narrow walls of cave tunnels. _This_ is the way we need to go."

All I heard at first as I took the next tunnel was the sound of Reggie's four paws rushing ahead of me, but eventually I heard heavier footsteps as Brooke jogged to catch up to me. I guessed she didn't believe me about which tunnel to take. That or she was afraid of what kind of creature could create that kind of intense sound. Staying alone in the dark didn't seem to be an option, though.

She may have had a point about fearing the noisy creature. Admittedly my own heart raced quite a bit as we emerged into a cave room. It was still dark, but my flashlight fell on the form of a small creature. Its small, round body looked kind of pink in the light, with yellow tips on its ears and feet. My fear subsided when I saw the size of it.

"That little thing caused all that noise?" I asked as I approached. I hardly even noticed that Reggie kept his distance.

"Don't get close to it," Brooke scolded me.

"Why? It's sleeping. And it's so cute. What is it?"

I didn't realize I spoke that loudly. The little guy perked up, took one look at me with eyes that seemed like nothing more than holes in its flat face, and started to whimper. It was a quiet, tolerable whimper at first, but the second I flinched, the pokémon began screaming like its leg was ripped off. I have never felt a headache quite like that before. My brain stopped functioning—I couldn't see or hear anything except gray static and a high-pitched tone. I think my ear drums might actually have burst.

When I dropped my flashlight, I lost sight of the critter. The beam pointed the wrong direction and I couldn't remove my hands from my ears lest I allow the pain to grow. Whatever that pokémon was, it sure made a lot of noise for such a little guy. Maybe it started out as nothing more than a few decibels, amplified by the acoustics of that stupid cave. I couldn't be sure, or even stop to think about the possibility.

A spray of water suddenly took my left leg out from under me with the force of that waterfall. Lykos was trying to shut up the pokémon by knocking it out, but even his canine vision wasn't able to find the little screamer in the dark. With those ears, the noise probably hurt his vision worse than mine.

"Reggie!" I shouted, barely able to hear my own voice. If Lykos could use water techniques already, Reggie must have had the capacity for fire techniques, too. "Light this place up!"

Who was I kidding? My voice reverberated inside my own head and I couldn't hear what I was shouting. How was Reggie supposed to hear me?

Suddenly there was a tiny flicker of fire in the air. It lit the room only briefly, giving me but a glimpse of Reggie coughing up a flame. It was more like a hiccup than a respectable flame. But it ignited some kind of moss in the floor, which caused a spread of fire along the right wall. The flames cast light throughout the cave and presented the screaming pokémon's position, right where I left it. Reggie was able to launch himself across the room and tackle the pokémon.

The way I felt when the screaming stopped was the same kind of relief that comes from finally sneezing after it tortures your nose for a while. I relaxed myself completely and instantaneously forgot about what caused all that pain. I wanted nothing more than to lie there and pass out until that ringing in my ears stopped. Luckily Reggie and Lykos didn't forget the situation. They converged on the pokémon and simultaneously tackled it hard enough to render it unconscious.

Brooke and I both took a few moments of rubbing our heads and forced groaning to regain our vision and hearing and to reduce our headaches to tolerable levels. "I think it's safe to say that was the cause of Old Man Max's insomnia. What is that thing?"

Brooke took a small, red device from her pocket. It was about the size of her palm. She aimed it at the pokémon and I realized from the lens that it was more like a cell phone with a camera in it. She stood in silence for about a minute when she finally started reading from the phone thing. "That's a whismur," she read. "Usually its cries are like quiet murmurs, but when frightened, it can shriek at volumes of 140 decibels." She flipped the thing shut and huffed. "Sounds impressive for such a little guy."

"Yeah," I agreed, watching Lykos guard the unconscious critter. "What should we do with it?"

When I looked back up, Brooke released a pokéball from her fingers. It flew right past me and smacked into the whismur, transforming the marshmallowy critter into a red light and drawing it inside. It was the same as when I caught that spoink. Only this pokéball hardly twitched after it closed. It just sat there while Brooke picked it up and smirked.

"Let's get out of here, shall we?"


	7. Ember

Ember

"So, you're back alive," Old Man Max said. He was reading by candlelight. He didn't look especially happy to see us, but he did look sufficiently surprised to see us mostly unscathed, aside from the fact that I still heard a continuous tone in my head. "That ruckus started early tonight. I figured you must have found the source."

"Surely you didn't think one little whismur could beat us," I suggested as if the ordeal were nothing more than brushing dust off my sleeve.

"Is that what it was? Those tunnels really amplify the sound, don't they? I may have to collapse the entrance to prevent anything else from wandering in there. Where is it now?"

"Right here," Brooke said with a grin on her face while she held up a pokéball.

I meant to ask earlier, but I was more interested in getting out of the cave and feeling the fresh air at the time. "Where'd you get that pokéball, anyway?"

"The Elder gave it to me." She seemed so proud of that. Smug little girl. "They were a parting gift with the pokédex."

Old Man Max looked at me. "Eddie didn't give you anything on your way out?"

"No. He gave me Reggie and a swift kick. That's all."

"Well, he must've seen a lot of potential in you, girl," Max said. "If you plan to become a trainer, you're off to a decent start. I guess that means you'll be leaving me alone in the morning."

Brooke scoffed. "I'm happy to get out of here right now."

"What about your parents?" I asked.

She frowned heavily. I didn't realize a frown could look heavy, but hers definitely did. "Right." She sat down slowly on Max's little cot. "The Elder already told me about them."

"Then why'd you go into that mine?"

He got her speechless again. I could see the wheels spinning in her head. She was really struggling between wanting to know what he knew and wanting to ignore it. What could be so bad about her real parents?

"Is my father alive?" she asked through gnashed teeth.

"Couldn't say. I haven't seen him for fifteen years."

"Then what could you possibly have to tell me?"

"I know what your father did to get himself exiled from the village."

My eyes popped right open and I forgot how to breathe for a minute. Brooke's father was exiled from Natrium Village? I didn't realize that happened to anyone other than me and her. But it made sense, right? Anyone willing to throw a couple of defenseless kids out of town must be willing to throw other people out. What did her father do?

"Did he go to the Undine Temple, too?" I asked.

"No one's that big a fool," Max retorted. "He had a love affair with Eddie's wife."

I was frozen in place with my jaws agape, but Brooke looked like she'd heard it all before. "He told me that already. If there's nothing else…"

"Then he must've told you your father is a former Pokémon League Champion." Now Brooke was still again. Maybe she didn't know that part. Max turned to me like he was trying to keep me in the loop. "That's the title earned by any man, woman, or child capable of defeating the Pokémon League's Elite Four in battle. In the past hundred years, our region has seen only twelve different Champions. Her father was the last man to inherit the title from the previous Champion. After a couple of years, he just abandoned his title and disappeared. We got a new Champion by default after that."

I asked, "What happened to him?"

"That's what _disappeared_ means," Brooke snapped at me. "With any luck, he's dead by now."

"That's really harsh," I said softly, trying to soothe her. Even if she didn't know her father, she shouldn't equate that with hating him. Maybe there was a good reason for him to… seduce the Elder's… wife.

Yeah, so that's pretty bad, but it still doesn't earn him a death penalty.

Somehow, I keep forgetting that Brooke never wants my advice, either. She stood up and stormed past me and Max. "I'm going to sleep."

"You can have the bed for the night," Old Man Max called after her, trying to be chivalrous.

"I don't want it!" She stormed off into the night. She probably didn't go too far, but she clearly didn't feel like talking and she didn't trust me not to keep asking questions.

"What's wrong with her?" Old Man Max asked me.

"She's still upset that you don't have indoor plumbing."

"She'll get over it or die from it," he replied. "Just as well, anyway. My back won't do well with a night on the floor." He looked to me with a bit of a sneer, like he was sucking on a horehound candy. "I don't know anything to tell you about your parents."

"That's okay. My parents died in the big train crash. I already know about it."

Either I didn't make a big enough deal about the fact that my parents had been dead since I was three years old, or Max just didn't like my answer. He spent a moment studying me silently. "You really got Eddie's pants in a bunch, didn't you? He cared enough about you to equip you with a pokémon and to team you up with a real firecracker, but he didn't offer you any of the gear a pokémon trainer should have."

I sighed, thinking of the Elder's face that time I juggled the neighbor's pokéballs and broke the one with the voltorb in it. Who knew voltorbs had such short tempers and they don't like being dropped? It's not like it took all week to rebuild that shed! And I'm still not convinced Craig wasn't already able to hear colors before that explosion.

"I've established a history of breaking his rules."

He motioned to the section of the floor he'd adorned with a blanket. "Why don't you get some sleep, Kid Obvious. You'll need to head for Kalium Town tomorrow if you want to keep up with your girlfriend."

First of all, Brooke was definitely not my girlfriend. The thought would probably make her gag. Secondly, and more importantly, she was definitely ready to leave. There was nothing for her to gain by staying here. Old Man Max had little in the way of money or possessions, and the knowledge he could share just seemed to upset her. She probably considered the whole trip a waste of time if not for the whismur she caught.

I asked Reggie to help me find her, and after a little time explaining to him that I didn't want him to keep bringing me dead rattatas, he finally led me to the spot where Brooke and Lykos set up their own little camp. She only went about thirty meters from the hut, tucked into a cozy little spot between two tree trunks. I got close enough to hear that she was asleep, but I didn't want to disturb her any more than that lest she hit me somewhere she could reach from the ground. I headed back for the hut to catch some shut eye. She'd want to leave early and she wasn't in the right mood to mess with her.

There wasn't much room inside the hut (and no door, either). I lay down next to the wall just outside and looked up at the stars until I drifted off.

I love that feeling of awakening slowly in the morning, that natural waking when you get lucky enough to be unaffected by alarms going off or nightmares or people going off. Slowly, I opened my eyes and stretched as I looked into the clear blue sky, blocked only by leaves sprouted from the longest branches on that tree nearby.

I was only awake for two seconds to enjoy the sky when suddenly two golden eyes and a furry snout popped into my view upside-down.

"Good morning, Reggie." In response, he lowered his cold nose to my forehead and sniffed me. I have no idea what he was looking for or what I smelled like, but it tickled, and he succeeded in getting me up off the dirt. It really was a beautiful day, as long as I ignored the part where I couldn't go home.

"What do you think? Breakfast before or after we sneak up on Brooke and scare the living daylights out of her?" Reggie rubbed his face against my leg in reply. I had no idea if that was a sign of assent, if he wanted to play, or if he was just hungry.

He followed me as I crept through the trees, tiptoeing ever so carefully to avoid crunching too many leave underfoot. Reggie spoiled the surprise by bounding ahead of me, though, straight past the tree and into Brooke's campsite.

"So much for that. I could try to pretend Reggie isn't following me, but you're way too…" As I looked down at the spot where she was sleeping just a few hours earlier, I couldn't help noticing she wasn't there. "…absent to hear what I'm saying." I looked to Reggie. "She's probably inside the hut getting some breakfast. We should join her."

Funny thing, though, was I hadn't heard her since I got up. Sure, her stuff was gone and I couldn't smell Lykos's wet fur and there were tracks in the dirt leading south, but that didn't mean for some reason that Brooke took off in the middle of the night without saying anything. She probably just went to bathe in the river and took everything she owned with her.

"You're still here," Old Man Max grumbled as I stepped into his hut. He wore tattered pants and no shirt, revealing a torso covered with scars, gray chest hair, and muscles like I wouldn't have guessed for a man his age. "I figured when your girlfriend skedaddled, you wouldn't be far behind."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh, really? She abandoned you in the middle of the night. Sounds like a woman to me."

"She did not _abandon_ me," I said, struggling to come to any other legitimate conclusion myself. "She could be just scouting ahead to report back later."

"My guess is to get that report you'd have to catch up to her." He tossed me an apple. "Breakfast?" He also dropped a small piece of meat to the ground, which prompted Reggie to pounce and scarf it down like he'd never eaten before.

I leaned against the door frame, staring at the apple. I couldn't believe Brooke left without me. Was she still mad about getting her exiled from Natrium Town? Did thinking of her birth father upset her that much? Could she know that it was me who put that rubber ekans under her bed sheets on her birthday last year? I guess when I stopped to think about it, I was more surprised she didn't abandon me right from the start.

"What's next?" Old Man Max asked me.

"I've never really thought about it. The exile wasn't really scheduled."

"They never are."

"What would you do?" When he turned a scowl at me, I realized, "You're doing it now, aren't you?"

"I wasn't exiled: I left. You know the oppressive environment. It's a longstanding tradition with those people. The way I see it, you can stay here and sulk… Check that. Sulk somewhere else. Not here. _Or_, you can take your simbder and pursue a pokémon career. Most become trainers. Then again, training is usually for people who know the first thing about pokémon."

His tone was unmistakable. "You think I can't do it?"

"I believe the expression your girlfriend used was, 'He sucks at it.'"

"I would have phrased it differently. 'My skills are currently on an extraplanar level difficult to perceive by traditional worldviews.' But, you know, different strokes."

He gave me a look that was much harder to read than any look I ever got from the elder. It was like a smirk with the underlying mood of a scowl. If the elder gave me a look like that, I'd plan to spend the next few days sleeping outside the village.

"You talk smarter than you look," Old Man Max said. Before I could come up with anything wittier than "thanks," he added, "That is one thing in your favor. Nothing worse than looking smarter than you are. You may actually have the chance to surprise people, as long as you don't overdo it. But _talk_ won't make you a better trainer."

"I don't know where Brooke is getting this stuff about me being a bad trainer. Reggie beat Lykos in their first battle."

"I heard you couldn't even produce a flame when needed."

Yeah, that wasn't the argument I expected to hear.

"Reggie's a bit of a slow grower, maybe, but he's pretty strong for a little guy." I knelt and scratched him behind the ears while I defended him.

"That's the way losers talk," he immediately barked at me. "It's your job as a trainer to cultivate your pokémon, not to make excuses for them. Find their weaknesses, figure out how to overcome them, and train your ass off."

"Reggie isn't old enough to have real weaknesses yet. It takes time to grow strong."

"That's making excuses right there!"

I scoffed, not really sure what I should do instead. _Training_ was such a broad term, and I never had to do it before. Did he just want me to make Reggie run laps around the woods or something?

"Well then, teach me."

Old Man Max leaned back in his chair so far I thought he might fall flat on the floor. His let out a low groan that sounded even worse than the creak of the chair legs. "I should've stopped talking and let you go away." He finally sat up and stood, taking a few moments to stretch his old, weary body. "Fine. I'll give you a few tips."

As he walked by me, I held a finger in my face. "One more night. You're out of here tomorrow morning, got it?"

"What if it's raining?"

"Then you better keep your simbder inside its pokéball."

Aphrodite was a very large pokémon. That venusaur could easily knock over a tree if she tried to climb it. Her body mostly came up just under my chest, but that tree growing from her back added another two feet to her height. That's how big and intimidating she looked against me. Now replace me with Reggie to get a good picture of the pokémon battle Old Man Max set up. We got set up in a particularly muddy area about a half-kilometer from the hut. Given the level of moisture in the air, I figured this was the spot where Brooke taught Lykos to use Water Gun.

"Let's start with the very basics," Max told me. "What do you know about pokémon types?"

"That typing is necessary because most of them can't hold pencils. They lack opposable thumbs." He glared at me through that one. Not in a joking mood, I guessed. "Um… I know certain elements in battle tend to trump others."

"Yes. Aphrodite here is a grass-type pokémon," he explained. "Your simbder is a fire-type. The fire element has an inherent strength advantage over grass-types because they burn more readily than other creatures. It will benefit you greatly to study pokémon types. If you can look at your opponent and know its typing, you will know how to beat it."

"Got it. So Reggie just needs to light Aphrodite on fire to win the battle. That sounds easy enough."

Old Man Max smirked. "You go right ahead."

"Reggie! Light her up!" I pointed dramatically as I shouted to illustrate my target. Reggie began excitedly running around Aphrodite, but after circling her once, he looked back at me. He seemed confused as to what I wanted him to do.

"'Light her up' is not the name of a technique," the old man explained to me. "The move you're looking for is probably Ember, given your simbder's experience level."

"Just saying the right words will suddenly make him know how to create fire?"

"Breathing fire is as natural for your pokémon as saying dumb things is for you. Just watch." Pointing past Reggie to a tree at the edge of the clearing, Max said, "Razor Leaf!" The mighty venusaur let out a low, guttural rumble and shrugged her neck, and the sepals on her back rolled up. It was hardly an impressive move, as far as I was concerned, until the sepals unfurled and released a stream of leaves that shot through the air, spinning rapidly as they embedded themselves in the trunk of that tree like a slew of ninja stars.

"Holy crap!"

"You get it? Your pokémon are very different from you. Their physiologies make possible what might otherwise seem like magic. Understand what your pokémon can do, and you can do anything."

That demonstration psyched me up. Clenching one fist with anticipation, I looked at Reggie again. "Reggie! Use Ember!" His ears instantly perked up like he understood me, perhaps with some innate knowledge of that word, and its connection with the small flame he produced from his jowls. "Awesome! That worked!"

"That was child's play," Old Man Max argued.

"He made a flame on command."

"It was a little flicker."

"It could burn your hut down."

"You couldn't even beat a scizor with that kind of flame. Look, simber's got a lot of potential with special attacks. His lungs develop through practice the same way as his muscles. What you need to do is spend as much time practicing with the flame as you do running around in circles with him. Then maybe he'll be of some use against Aphrodite here."

"Lots of fire-breathing. Got it. Is that like Rule #1?"

He made a face at me. "If there's a Rule #1, it's that type matching can mean the difference in a battle, or it can mean squat. It comes down to the way you approach the battle, plus the power of the opponent."

"That's confusing," I noted. Type matching matters _and_ doesn't matter? That almost sounds like two rules: One indicates type matching matters and the second indicates sometimes it doesn't. I decided to simplify it: "Rule #1 is 'Know pokémon types.' What about Rule #2?"

"You don't strike me as a structured person."

He had a good point there. No witty reply popped into mind, so I just responded honestly: "I have to know every rule before I can decide which ones to break."

Even his venusaur groaned in reply. She slowly reared back, and when she lurched, a vine whipped from her back and almost struck Reggie. It caught him just a bit on the hindquarters, but he had really good reaction time on that and minimized the damage. The venusaur reared back again and Reggie braced himself. But this time when the vine whipped forward, it passed Reggie and smacked _me_! Right in the thigh!

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Rule #2: Never expect your pokémon to do something you wouldn't do."

"You want me to fight a venusaur?"

"You could. You'd lose, but humans are not so weak. You need to learn and grow the same as you'd expect from your simbder. Running around with him is a good thing for both of you. Your playful attitude shows me you have a trainer's spark. If you expect your pokémon to train hard and do amazing things, you have to show them that you're willing to train hard with them. That's Rule #2. Now, are you ready to give this battle a try?"

"I don't know." I looked to Reggie and called his name. "Are we ready to battle?" His ears perked up again and he gave me a feline smile. "I guess that's a 'yes.'"

"Good. Rule #3: Be prepared for anything."

"Duh. That's pretty much Rule #1 for survival camping."

"It's a little different with pokémon battles."

Cryptic as that was, he sounded like a senile old man. Being prepared for anything is exactly the advice you get no matter what you do. What did he mean that it's different now? I tried to watch every twitch in the venusaur's body to see if I could anticipate its next move. Was it collecting sunlight to prepare an attack? Maybe it already planted itself into the ground so the next attack would come from below.

Or maybe… he meant that I should watch _him_. Was there some way for trainers to cheat during a battle? He wasn't likely to need a second pokémon to beat Reggie at this level. Was he going to throw some kind of bomb or some other battle item that might hurt Reggie or help Aphrodite? He wasn't moving much, but he did have a big smirk on his face. What was I missing?

"Let me rephrase that rule," he offered. "There are rules of etiquette where battling is involved. Some trainers bend those rules for an advantage, and some flat-out break them to guarantee victory."

"Break the rules…?"

Suddenly the mud beneath Reggie's paws shifted. I was right! It was a ground attack! But Aphrodite didn't look like she'd done anything different. What caused it?

"Get out of there!" Reggie recognized the danger already and tried to scramble, but his feet seemed glued to the ground. He struggled against it, but he couldn't move. A wave of mud rose from the ground and arced over Reggie like a dome, slapping down on top of him. Two big eyes appeared in the mud. Not golden eyes—just big, empty eyes.

"Not all of that muck on the ground was mud," Old Man Max explained as the mud creature slithered away from Reggie, leaving my poor feline on the ground mostly unharmed but completely disoriented and a little bit rank. "This is a muk, a poison-type pokémon. He didn't poison the simbder, but you see what I mean about Rule #2. A dishonorable trainer will defeat you easily and without remorse."

"Sneaky fox," I uttered as I knelt by Reggie and stroked his fur to help remove some of the gunk and to break up some of the new knots in his fur. He didn't have his usual energy then. The way his eyes drooped, I thought he might be sick.

"Rule #3," the old man said, tossing me a small bottle. "Always have a potion. Only a negligent idiot travels anywhere without a way to heal his pokémon's wounds." The bottle held a healing salve that I spread on Reggie's wounds, almost instantly restoring some of his vigor.

"Are you ready for a real battle this time?" Old Man Max asked me.

"No more lessons?"

"Nope. Just experience."

I scratched Reggie behind the ears and saw the fire return to his eyes. "Alright then. Our first real battle. Let's do this."


	8. Struggle

Struggle

Reggie leapt onto Aphrodite's back, clinging frantically to the sepals of the tree growing dorsally. "Use Ember!" I shouted, prompting my excited simbder to spew a small column of fire straight into the tree. The flames spread rapidly across the leafy venusaur's back.

"Leech Seed," Old Man Max countered. But Aphrodite couldn't comply. As soon as she produced a seed on her back, it caught fire and burned up.

"Finish her with Scratch!" From his seat atop Aphrodite's back, Reggie lunged at the back of her head and scratched furiously with his small claws. After wounding her, he lost his balance and began to fall, but he grabbed her neck again and held on with his claws until gravity finally pulled him off. He stepped back as the mighty venusaur lurched and dropped her face into the dirt. She wasn't hurt terribly, but she was obviously too tired to continue battling.

"Stop," Max told us. "That's enough."

Brimming with excitement, I tried to maintain my composure and to accept my win with quiet grace and dignity. But I just had to celebrate, so to avoid rubbing it in with a wild "Yahoo," I instead began my own little victory dance, using very subtle motions energized by my excitement.

"Are you having a seizure?" Old Man Max asked me.

"This is my victory dance!" I told him.

He scoffed. "Victory? Aphrodite beat your simbder twenty times in a row without taking any potions. Your simbder won once."

"Yeah. In your face!"

"Settle down, jitterbug." He pulled another salve from his pocket—this one in a green bottle—and treated Aphrodite's wounds with it. She reveled in the soothing balm, stretched herself a bit, and let out a deep bellow.

"Where do you get those? Do you order them online?"

"I make them myself. I mix berries from flowering plants of the Rutaceae family with essential oils from various plants in the area."

"No wonder you have so many salves on hand."

"Exactly." Old Man Max stroked his venusaur above the nose and then grinned at me. "Let's see if you can do it again."

We spent all day battling with a break in there for lunch and a late supper that led directly into bedtime. Reggie went through dozens of healing salves and thirty pounds of spoink meat, but with his victory in the final battle between him and Aphrodite the next morning, he achieved a seventeen-to-one ratio of losses to wins—pretty impressive considering how vast the experience difference was between them.

"I've got something to give you before you go," the old man said after he covered Aphrodite's skin with another potion. "Follow me to the hut." He stroked Aphrodite's head and scratched her right above the nose. Then he left her there and headed back to the hut.

I stepped up to the venusaur and raised my hand. She barked gruffly at me, but I slowed my approach and showed that all I wanted was to stroke her skin. She let me touch her face gently. Her skin was very moist, almost slimy. I lowered my hand to that spot on her nose where I saw Old Man Max scratch her. She closed her eyes and produced a low rumbling, almost like an amphibian version of Reggie purring.

Suddenly something smacked me on the behind. Aphrodite rolled one of her vines back into her sepals. Her eyes were open and her rumble turned into a slight growl.

"Okay," I said as I stepped backward. "We're done here. Thanks for teaching Reggie how to fight." She exhaled softly and closed her eyes again. I think she was just sleepy. "Come on, Reg." As always, my little simbder bounded six paces ahead of me the whole way to the hut.

I wondered what Old Man Max could be giving me. Maybe he was going to give me one of his old pokémon he seems to have wandering around the hut. Which would I prefer: Venusaur? Ariados? Muk? What else does he have? Then again, with my recent luck, he was giving me nothing more than a swift kick out of here. That whole "hating people" thing of his was probably just some kind of act he put on to drive people away. He had to be lonely out here by himself. If I could convince him, maybe he'd let me stick around for a little while until I got really good at training. He could share all his experiences with me and get me to a higher baseline level than the average fresh trainer.

When I got to the hut, he handed me a small, pretty light sack.

"What's this?"

"Your parting gift," he answered.

"Parting? I thought maybe I could stick around for a while and learn some more about pokémon training from you."

"Kid, I'm an old man set in his ways. Having you here for a little while was an acceptable disruption of my routine, but my anxiety grows with every passing minute. I need things to return the way I'm comfortable. We already discussed your leaving first thing tomorrow. I decided to up the ante and send you out after lunch."

"Why? You're all alone out here. Aren't you lonely?"

"I'm not alone. My surviving pokémon are still here with me."

I made a face. "Yeah, but they're pokémon."

"The fact that you say that means you aren't ready to be secluded," he said to me gruffly. "You want people around. You think their attention makes what you do more significant. All your mischief has been a giant effort to shine a spotlight on yourself. By contrast, people bother me. Pokémon provide me with companionship. When you've had pokémon for as long as I have, you'll understand." He shrugged and looked away. "Or maybe you won't."

I felt a little sad. He really didn't want me to stay. But how could anyone not enjoy my company? A bit sullen, I loosened the drawstring on the sack and looked inside.

The first thing I saw was a pokéball. Actually, there were five in there. My initial excitement faded quickly enough when I realized they were empty. The old man wasn't being _that_ generous. The sack also had five potions. They were purple bottles, about the size of my palm, each with a spray nozzle, unlike the salves the old man used when we were out in the woods.

But the last thing in the sack was a red, metal book. It looked a little like the one Brooke had, though this one was much older and covered with nicks and dings. "Is this a pokédex?"

"It's my old pokédex," he explained. "That handy little device contains information on all the pokémon I've come across in my years of training."

"Don't you need it?"

He shot me an empty look. "The pokémon here have stayed the same for the past thirty years. Granted, I've never heard a whismur in this area until recently. I've had that pokédex for seventy years. Everything in there that's worth knowing—" He pointed to his forehead. "—I've got up here. That will do a lot more good in the hands of a fresh, new, inordinately naïve trainer."

"Ignoring the 'naïve' crack, why give me all these things? I don't have anything to give back."

"Those are things every trainer needs. I've already done everything for you I can. And leaving me alone is gift enough."

I just stood there silently holding the sack. The drawstring would make it convenient to tie to my backpack, or maybe even to strap to a belt, if I ever started wearing one. The empty pokéballs made me feel a pit in my stomach. Not the sad kind, but the really nervous kind, like when you have the chance to talk to a movie star or when you realize you're about to take on a whole new approach to life and become a trainer, completely different from anything you ever thought you'd do with your life. Each empty pokéball represented a possibility to become the new Pokémon League Champ. Maybe I could do it, but it would take a lot of training. I couldn't even beat Old Man Max's pokémon yet without a string of potions, and there were a lot of trainers out there likely stronger than him.

Okay, that may be a little too much pressure to put on myself right out of the chute. I still only had one pokémon with me. To be fair, I should at least catch a second pokémon before I start fantasizing about winning big.

"How long are you going to stand there gawking?" the old man barked.

"You already taught me so much. I feel like maybe we should hug it out."

He gave me a solid glare that hit me harder than anything Brooke ever shot at me. "No!"

"Okay," I said, weakly pulling away. "Um…"

He sighed. "Geez, kid. Just go. Good-byes are overrated. There's only one thing I have left to say to you."

I sat down and leaned in to hear him well. "I'm listening."

Pointing directly at me, he said, "Training involves a lot of ups and downs. There will be times when you're riding high and other times when you feel like you can't do anything right. But no matter how tough it gets, remember this one thing: Never—_ever_—come back here. You got that?"

Half of my smile faded, leaving me with, I'm sure, a goofy-looking expression. Dryly, I offered, "That was helpful." I stood up and grabbed my backpack, suspiciously loaded already with enough meat to get me to Kalium Town. I'd spent enough time camping on my own to recognize berry trees for whenever I wanted to vary my food intake. Maybe I could even find a few of the flowering kind and grind my own potions. I guess everything was set for me. The only thing holding me back now was me.

"Good luck," Old Man Max said.

"Thanks." I smiled and didn't take any extra steps toward the door.

"That was code."

"I know," I replied defensively. He wanted me gone. I was getting there. Everyone was kicking me out lately. I might as well get used to it, right? This hut was too small for both of us to live here, anyway. "Thanks for your help. Let's go, Reggie." He was excited to get going as we wandered from the hut. He pretty much had two speeds—_excited_ and _sleeping_. I tried to draw a little bit of his energy.

"This is it," I told him as I got my bearings and headed to the southeast toward the next town. "This is where our story begins."


	9. Follow Me

Follow Me

I had no idea capturing pokémon was going to be so difficult. After maybe twenty minutes of wandering toward what I hoped was an actual footpath—a paved road was ideal given the increasing accumulation of orange dirt on the cuffs of my jeans—leading to Kalium Town, Reggie stopped abruptly, perked his ears up, and then darted into the underbrush beneath a few low trees. The bush shook violently for a few seconds when a pair of pidgey burst out into the air.

One of them took off at a bit of an arc, like it was either injured or suffering a stroke. Reggie tried to leap after it, but he couldn't quite get that high off the ground. He chased them both through the trees from ground level, watching their movements the whole time. I, on the other hand, couldn't keep track of the pidgey, but at least Reggie's orange fur created enough contrast with the surroundings that I could follow him reasonably. He darted off through the thicket and brush like they weren't even there, whereas I got pricked and poked all the way up to my rear in my failed attempts to keep up. I called after him a dozen times to come back each time I saw him leap into the air and miss swiping the birds. And then I found the magic bush.

Magic in the sense that it completely grabbed my ankles and dropped me like a bag of rocks, straight into the mud. Normally getting a little muddy is not a problem for me. In fact, it's the sign of a productive day of spelunking. But not this time. I hit so hard I ended up swallowing a mouthful of dirt. I think there was a bug in there, too, and I wasn't looking to supplement my protein intake that way just yet. I was saving that for when I get totally lost in those woods that are supposed to have no exit and I've already eaten all my supplies and traveling partners.

Reggie came back to me, unsuccessful in his attempt to catch the pidgey but no less enthused about sniffing the mud on my fingers while I sat and tried to clean my face. And then he climbed my lap and stuck that mud-covered nose next to my nose, and right after I finished wiping the mud off. That little episode is why I was grateful to find a little freshwater spring at the base of a small boulder. It had a great smell and the surface was perfectly clear. I could see every moss-covered rock, the roots of every leek, and a hydrothermal vent foaming up the surface back near the rocky wall. It was spraying hard enough to float two black pebbles. It was probably pretty warm, too.

"That's more like it," I said after I plunged my face in. The water was delicious, which is pretty unusual to hear because it's _water_: It doesn't taste like anything, unless you sprinkle some combee honey in it, and I doubted too many bees spent time bathing in the spring.

Speaking of animals avoiding seventy percent of the planet, Reggie was nervous about the water. He crept close to the water's edge, started to sniff it, then promptly recoiled when the water touched his nose. He tried it again and managed to find that perfect distance where he could stick his tongue in and lap it up without any other part of him actually touching to surface.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked him with a chuckle. "Cats really do hate water, don't they?" Well, I didn't. I stripped down to my shorts and jumped in for a quick bath. If I learned one thing from the Elder, it was: "You're the only one who likes it when you walk around the village covered with dirt. Girls appreciate cleanliness and guys who don't smell like stale bear urine." If he wasn't just blowing smoke, the people of Kalium Town would probably prefer I show up smelling like fresh water. Besides, it was a good chance to clean the small cut I sustained from one thorny bush that was apparently strong enough to puncture my leg through my jeans. I made a mental note that Band-Aids were probably a good supply to obtain in the future.

I stopped scrubbing myself for a moment and looked to Reggie, who was still trying to drink without touching water. "Do you think Max was right? Did I just get dirty all the time because it drew attention to me?" He didn't answer. He just continued to stare at the water in fearful-pounce position. Weird cat. "Why am I asking you? You don't understand a word I say. Water's really not that bad, either." I splashed a little water his way and watched him hurl himself backward, away from the spring.

Chuckling to myself, I leaned forward to submerge my head again. The tree foliage wasn't as thick around here and the sun was out in force. The water felt even nicer the second time around. Not as cold and bracing, allowing me to enjoy the refreshment all the more. I held my position for a few seconds before I realized, _I can't get up._

The instant I felt resistance on my back, I panicked and thrashed around. One quick move to my right enabled me to surface again. I whipped back and forth, looking for my assailant, so quickly I think I gave myself whiplash. I didn't see anything unusual. No pidgeys bent on vengeance. No combees swarming overhead. In fact, I couldn't see any other pokémon than Reggie. The only thing that even caught my attention out of the corner of my eye was the excessive foam around my right leg.

I didn't even have time to get a better look before the foam expanding and swung at me like a tidal wave. My feet reacted with my eyesight and moved me forward just as the wave came crashing down, but the friction of the water slowed me too much and my legs got caught up in the foam. The force was like getting punched in the thigh, and it knocked me into the soil while orange flames bore down just past me and raised the temperature dramatically. Suddenly the force on my legs dissipated. I immediately took the opportunity to scramble out of the water.

Solid ground never felt so good to me. I took a few deep breaths to settle myself and then shot Reggie a look of annoyance. "You could have _told_ me that's why you were afraid of the water."

The bubble foamed up again and swirled violently, somehow spraying a small stream of water from the spring straight at Reggie. He was quick enough to avoid the bulk of the spray, but he did still suffer a significant drenching. I recognized the shiver that ran down his spine. It was the same shiver that hit Aphrodite every time she suffered a fire attack. "Oh, right. Water is your weakness! _That's_ why you were afraid of the water."

The water continued to foam despite the fact that I no longer disturbed the surface. Suddenly I realized those black spots were not floating pebbles: They were eyes.

"Is that a pokémon?" I wondered. "Hit it with Ember." I know he did it before on his own, but it just seemed like Reggie mustered so much more power from his tiny, flaming tongue when his move had a name. The cloud of fire smothered the foaming water, and when it receded intentionally, I knew it was alive. I reached into the sack Old Man Max gave me and pulled out an empty pokéball. "My first capture!"

Releasing that pokéball was the greatest feeling I'd ever had. Reggie was an awesome first pokémon, and this foaming creature was going to add water attacks to my arsenal. With this on my team, I was on my way to becoming the next Pokémon Champion. The ball sucked the red energy inside, closed, and bounced with the sealing sensor bright red. "Awesome!"

Suddenly the ball broke open. The foamy pokémon emerged on the hard ground. Now I got a better look at its form. Most notable was its lack of a definite shape. It wasn't like a purely sentient collection of bubbles. It's tough to explain. Maybe the best way to think of it is a giant slug wearing covered with large, foaming bubbles. An odd creature to be sure, the foam didn't come from being in the water, and its body was unaffected by being on land.

"What in the world is that?"

That's when I remembered something:

_Brooke took a small, red device from her pocket. It was about the size of her palm. She aimed it at the pokémon and I realized from the lens that it was more like a cell phone with a camera in it. She stood in silence for about a minute when she finally started reading from the phone thing. "That's a whismur," she read. "Usually its cries are like quiet murmurs, but when frightened, it can shriek at volumes of 140 decibels."_

"The pokédex!" I reached into the sack and grabbed the age-worn pokédex the old man gave me. Following Brooke's example, I pointed the lens at the foaming creature and heard the device click upon recognition. I expected it to wait for a minute or so like Brooke's did, but the blue light on the pokédex lit up, and an image of a similar creature popped up on the screen inside.

_027-Foamert  
>Foaming Pokémon<br>[Normal]  
>Average Height: 1'8"<br>Average Weight: 2.4 lb.  
>It generates inert bubbles that can be used to confuse the enemy and to provide devastating attacks from the environment.<em>

"A foamert?" I read. "This is so cool! What can it do?" I pressed the "Abilities" button to see a brief description of foamert's abilities. Apparently, even as a normal-type pokémon, it had the capacity to learn attacks from a variety of elements, though its true proclivity was with physical, neutral-element attacks. "That's not bad. Where does it live?" Suddenly a clod of top soil slammed onto the ground, narrowly missing Reggie. "Oh, right. Probably not the best time for that."

The pokédex description of the foamert was right. On land, this pokémon was able to swirl around and tear chunks from the moist ground by the spring and hurl them at my little simbder. It occurred to me at that moment that as a fire-type, Reggie was probably not a big fan of having pieces of the ground thrown at him, either.

"Intimidate it with a Growl attack!" I suggested. Reggie puffed up his breast and let loose a fully supported, richly-toned growl that sounded like a small engine. The foamert shrank back momentarily, but then it spread itself wide as it lunged full-bodied. It may be a small pokémon, but this thing certainly was bold and gutsy.

Struck with an epiphany, I told Reggie, "Brace yourself right there. Endure the hit!" Now Reggie shrank back in anticipation of the opponent's Tackle. It was a tough hit to take from a pokémon still carrying moisture on its body, but after the veil of bubbles splashed down on my simbder, I told him, "_Now_ use Ember!" It took a moment longer than usual for Reggie to get started, yet a bright burst of fire emerged under the foamert's body and smothered it.

The foamert was singed heavily by the attack. Reggie pushed his way from under the pokémon and pounced back on it, looking as proud as the day he tackled Brooke's canisouse. It was my first day as a pokémon trainer, but I thought right then I might never see a more perfect opportunity to throw a pokéball.

"Back, Reggie," I said. He promptly removed himself from the weakened foamert just as I let a second pokéball fly. It snapped a few bubbles as it slapped against the sluggish skin and turned the pokémon into a mass of red energy once more. When the pokéball shut, I crossed my fingers and hoped I remembered to weaken it enough this time. The ball shook violently as the foamert tried to resist the taming technology. "Come on…"

And then the ball stopped rocking. I held my breath for a moment, just waiting for it to burst open like the other one did. But it didn't happen. "Did it work?" I asked Reggie. He just looked at me hopefully, though he did try to beat me to the pokéball. I managed to snatch it off the ground before he could get it, though.

It felt… amazing. Emotions swarmed through me while I held the ball and stared at it. It didn't move or do any tricks, yet it felt like holding the universe in the palm of my hand. This fruit-sized device represented my first real step into the world of pokémon training. I felt completely renewed. This was my second wind. No matter how tedious traveling through the woods could be with every tree nearly identical and rattatas scurrying everywhere, looking at this ball would remind me how _awesome_ life was about to get!

With a fist clenched around the pokéball and thrusting it into the air, I left out a loud yell of excitement. "Yeah! My first capture!"

I heard a soft, somewhat musical chuckle at that moment. It faded instantly and I couldn't see anything else nearby. No other pokémon in the area moved, except Reggie's ears perked up and he was looking away from me past the spring.

"What did _you_ hear?" I asked him. He never turned to look at me. He took a step in that direction and stopped, waiting and watching like a predator stalking his prey. That time I was certain the gasping sound I heard came from a person. From the timbre of it, it sounded female. Suddenly I was _very_ aware that I wore nothing but wet boxer shorts. I couldn't tell if I changed colors at all, but I felt my face burn up as I scrambled to get my clothes back on. I could still see the places where I hit the mud with them, but at least no more packs of mud clung to them after I wiped them down.

"Who's there?" I asked once I was finally dressed.

"I'm sorry," came a girl's voice from behind a tree. "I didn't mean to spy on you."

"Well, I know you're there now. If you come out so I can see you, it won't be spying."

That seemed like a perfectly rational suggestion, but she still didn't step out right away. I waited through an awkward ten seconds before she finally took a single step and hesitated again. At least now I was certain there was actually someone there and I wasn't just hearing things. She wore at least one white shoe, and up to her knee, her leg was thin and so pale I wasn't sure it was a leg at first.

She finally stopped using the tree as a shield and unintentionally gave me the impression she never spent any time in the sun. Her legs were the only exposed skin she showed except for some of her face. She wore a white blouse with blue flowers sewn on and a black skirt to her knees. Over all of that, she wore a green cloak with the hood pulled up over her head. I couldn't even see her face all that well thanks to the big sunglasses she wore, but her chin was just as pale as her legs.

As an aside to Reggie, I asked softly, "Would Brooke put a contract out on me?"

The girl had pretty good ears. "What? I'm not an assassin. I just… burn easily, and the sun's pretty bright today."

"Oh. Well, that makes sense. I'm Gus. It's nice to meet you…?" I extended my hand and stepped in her direction.

"That's it?" she asked. She sounded puzzled, and her brow furrowed noticeably against her pale skin. "No more questions? I just tell you I'm not an assassin and you believe me?"

I stopped. "Well, _are_ you an assassin?"

"No."

"Then why should I worry? What's your name?"

She was still puzzled. "I'm Fey. Who is Brooke, and why do you think she might've hired a hitwoman to kill you?"

I chuckled through saying, "She's just my sister. It's a very love-hate relationship."

"It sounds frightening."

"And you haven't even met her. That's pretty good, Fey." She still hadn't managed any kind of positive emotional expression by the time we joined hands and greeted one another more formally. Up close like this, it was easier to tell how much taller she was than I. She was at least head-and-shoulders higher, yet thin enough to weigh no extra. Her hair was snow white like an old lady's, which is why her rather smooth skin confused me. "How old are you?"

She blushed before answering, "Eighteen."

"Really? And your hair is white already? What happened? Did you see a ghost? Did you just move here from the tundra where it helped you blend in better? Oh! Your mother is probably going gray already and suffering intense self-esteem loss, so you did that to make her feel better."

"It's just how my hair grew," she insisted.

Now Fey seemed a bit angered by my joking. Her hair was obviously a touchy subject, so I simply said, "It looks great. You clearly take good care of it. I wish I could say the same." I ran my fingers through my hair and realized I still didn't get all the mud out of it with that little bath.

Her features softened again and she managed a little smile. "Apology accepted."

"I didn't apologize."

"Maybe not in those words," she corrected me. "Congratulations on catching that foamert. I'd heard one was spotted out here."

"Oh." I suddenly felt a bit guilty, but also pretty proud. "Is that why you came out here? Were you hoping to capture it?"

"Foamerts are usually spotted a bit farther south in the marshes where the rainfall is higher. Mostly I wanted to see if there really was one here. I'm a tad disappointed not to capture it myself, but maybe it's better to go to a fledgling trainer."

"Isn't a fledgling a low-flying bird?"

Fey gave me a silent, confused stare for a moment. "No. I just mean you're new."

"How can you tell?"

"First of all, you wasted a pokéball without even really starting a battle. That's a telltale rookie mistake."

"I didn't waste it," I argued. I walked back over to the spring and picked up the first pokéball I had thrown. Maybe it didn't work the first time, but I could reuse it later… except the sealing mechanism had a pretty large crack in it. How did that happen? "It broke!"

"That's usually what happens when a pokémon overpowers the pokéball. They often do so with such force that the machinery breaks. You didn't know that?"

"It's kind of my second day."

Suddenly her expression changed. Now she looked a little more impressed. "Well, then double congratulations for catching another pokémon already."

"What did you mean when you suggested a foamert was good for a newbie?" There were times when I didn't mind what other people had to say, but this girl seemed to know a lot more about training than I did. I thought all trainers were hardcore nuts for capturing every species of pokémon they didn't already have, but Fey seemed okay with not capturing this foamert, and I suspected it wasn't because she had another already.

"It only has two evolutionary stages and its baseline stats aren't all that high." My lack of understanding must have shown in a blank stare or something because she asked, "Is that knowledge too specialized for you?"

"No. I just don't know what it means."

She giggled. "Well, maybe you should spend some time at the Pokémon Gym in Kalium Town. It's a great place for new trainers to go and learn about training, plus you get to test your mettle against other trainers who use similar pokémon to yours. That simbder will fit right in the Field Gym."

"Awesome! Kalium Town is where I was supposed to go, anyway." I looked through the thin canopy overhead and followed the sun, trying to remember which direction it was back to Old Man Max's place. If that way was north with a bit of a western bearing… "I may be a little lost."

"Don't worry. We're not far. Follow me!"

* * *

><p><em>With his second pokémon in hand, Gus is finally off to Kalium Town, where he hopes to learn about pokémon training and maybe a little bit about the human condition. Fey seems a bit strange but Gus isn't threatened. What's her story? Thanks to <strong>WolfSummoner93<strong> for submitting Fey.  
><strong>Next time:<strong> Kalium Town is bustling with activity. What's with all the bananas? And what's that huge creature following Brooke out of the gym?_

_**Trivia:**  
>Foamert's name is a combination of <strong>foam<strong> and **inert**, representing its normal-type status.  
>Simbder's name is a combination of <strong>simba<strong> and **tinder**, representing its status as a fire lion.  
>I am not proud of my random naming ability, and so every pokémon I've created is a combination of two words.<br>_


	10. Growth

Growth

I know journeying is supposed to be a time-consuming activity, but it still annoyed me that we didn't get to Kalium Town until shortly before suppertime. Fey pointed out I accidentally added two hours to my trip by stopping at that natural spring, which was a little farther south than the path I needed to take. At least I got a new pokémon out of it. Sigurd followed me quite a bit through the woods. As a foamert, Sigurd wasn't a terribly quick mover, but that little slug had a remarkable ability to jump over fallen trees and other obstacles, though most of them were low enough for the thing to squeeze under. Fey gave me a few tips for getting started with a brand new pokémon.

But I think I forgot all those tips when we entered Kalium Town and I was overwhelmed by the color yellow. The streets were lined with giant bananas. Some were used as support beams for tents and booths, some were used as flagpoles and fence posts, and some of them were real. Or so Fey said. She may have been pulling my leg.

"This must be the Banana Festival you mentioned," I muttered. "They really beat you over the head with it, don't they?"

"It's a big event," Fey assured him. "Bananas are the chief produce here. These things are popular all over the region. The festival uses the bananas as a theme, and it marks the prime season for banana harvesting, but it's really just an excuse to have a festival. There're games and shows and rides…"

"You never need an excuse for rides," I pointed out. "Do they have roller coasters?"

"Yes, but they're the small ones that move at slow speeds for the kids. One of them goes through the dark, though."

"Awesome! Let's go!"

Fey giggled. "I guess I can show you around a little, but there's a show a little later I don't want to miss."

"Shows are cool. What kind of show?"

"Wrestling."

I put on a huge, amused grin. "You're a wrestling chick?"

I couldn't quite tell if she was offended by the word "chick," but her tone was less jovial when she said, "It's not normal wrestling. People compete against pokémon."

"Seriously? Isn't that a little stacked?" I know it wouldn't take much effort to wrestle Reggie into submission, but the Elder had a tyranitar that seemed impossible to tackle. Six-and-a-half feet tall, five hundred pounds… He used to use it to stamp down the fields for planting and to assist in lifting heavy things—like support beams for barn raisings or my neighbor's fat dad when he'd had too much to drink. I couldn't imagine anyone fighting a pokémon that big. "What kind of competition are we talking?"

She smiled like she was going to enjoy seeing my reaction to this awesome sight. "The favored challenger is a fully grown hariyama."

I narrowed my eyes, like seeing through tunnel vision would help me visualize something I didn't recognize, and then reached into my pocket for my pokédex. "Hariyama, hariyama," I repeated as I searched for a picture.

"It's a hulking beast a lot like a sumo wrestler. Think eight feet tall and eight hundred pounds in a very rotund body." I finally found the entry for hariyama in my pokédex. Her description was pretty spot-on, though she left out the part where its hands were wide enough to cover a class of school children in the rain.

A wolf whistle escaped my lips as I noted the size of the pokémon. Then I realized, "You said 'challenger.' Who's the champion?"

"You'll see."

I mocked disinterest in the topic. "Fine. I don't care, anyway. I wanna ride a roller coaster that roller coasters in the dark. How much should I be willing to bet the cars are shaped like bananas?"

Fey chuckled in reply. "I won't bet against you."

It felt a little strange for me, but this was the first time I separated myself from Reggie since I first opened his pokéball. Fey suggested it would be easy for me to lose track of such a rambunctious critter in the crowds the festival attracted, so I recalled him into the pokéball while we walked around.

We wandered through the festival toward the back end where the roller coasters were located. In hindsight, it's easy for me to say I wasn't surprised by all the aipoms and chimchars wandering the grounds. In the moment, however, I was a bit struck by the sheer numbers of them. Monkey pokémon everywhere. That part was pretty cool. The part that was less cool was how many people walked around wearing banana costumes. The first few were funny, especially the idea of someone walking around all day basically wearing a one-piece dress just to look like a banana, and one of them had a propeller on top. One of them was impressive with its quality build and incredible attention to detail: I brushed against him as I walked by just to figure out the costume felt like a real banana rind. Somehow, a young lady managed to make bananas sexy by wearing a yellow, skintight, tube-style dress that looked like it was peeling where she unzipped it to her chest. But most of the costumes were sad—bulky and flimsy like they was sewn from two-dollar materials.

"Aren't those costumes hot?" I asked Fey.

"I imagine the fabric retains heat pretty well when the sun's out like this, but I don't know for sure. I've never worn one."

"Why would you? You just wear a cape in the middle of the hottest day on record. Dressing like a seeded fruit is probably low on your list of oddities."

"Yeah, well, sunscreen only goes so far. It's less of a hassle than carrying an umbrella around all day." I could just imagine that. An umbrella where the tube looked like a banana fruit and the ribs looked like the peel.

"Thank god for fashion sense. What's that?"

There was a stage set up in what may have been the center of this town. It was pretty basic and looked like something that could be built in an hour—just a raised floor with no more area than a typical bedroom. A crowd was gathered around the stage with standing-room-only available; the three-row bleachers rolled out for the festival were overflowing. Two people stood onstage with microphones in hand.

"That's the stage," Fey answered simply. "It's where all the shows play throughout the festival. This is the talent show. As soon as they announce a winner, the wrestling show will start."

"Talent show? Are you sure? It sounds like an alleged comedy duo."

She chuckled. "You don't like the jokes?"

Here's why. Though Fey stayed back and didn't get close to the crowd, I worked my way around to one of the speakers so I could hear. One lanky guy whose hair made him resemble a mop looked confused while his portly partner with the rosy cheeks was eating a banana whole—rind and all.

"Why are you eating a banana with the skin on?"

"It's alright. I know what's inside."

Somehow, that made the crowd laugh. It was probably out of pity.

"What would you do if you saw a blue banana?"

"Try to cheer it up, of course."

I winced noticeably at that one. The guy next to me noticed and shot me a bit of a dirty look. Either this was some really big conspiracy where everyone knew the jokes weren't that funny and was trying to make me feel like an idiot, or I really was in a class of my own here. I ducked my head as an insincere—but accepted—apology.

"What's yellow and flashes?"

The fat guy pointed into the crowd at the young lady I saw earlier in the sexy dress. "Her, with any luck." I could tell from the lanky guy's reaction as he smacked his partner in the back of the head and busted out laughing that it wasn't part of the script.

"Okay, that one was a little funny," I admitted to the angry guy. He wasn't impressed with my attempt at reconciliation. I wasn't going to wait through the entire act. I'd had enough of these two.

Fey gave me a sympathetic head tilt as I rejoined her, feeling rather confused and a bit annoyed. "What's with that guy?"

"Did you tell him what you thought of the act?"

"Kind of."

The corners of her mouth pulled into the slightest of smiles. "You insulted his son's comedy."

I looked back at the angry guy and watched how heartily he laughed at each joke. He was always the first to start clapping after a punch line. Now that I could see him and the portly comedian in the same view, I realized they had the same cheeks. "Wow. I can't believe I missed that."

"You just got focused on the jokes. Not everyone at the talent show tells jokes. Some people dance, some people do odd tricks, and some people sing."

"That sounds like a lot of fun, though you'd never catch me pretending I can sing."

"No, your talent seems to be more along the lines of creativity."

"How so?"

She lifted her chin as she inhaled—that was a behavior that always preceded a smug comment intended to prove a point. "Have you named your foamert yet?"

"I think so. I figured I'd just call him Sigurd—kind of a mispronunciation of sluggard."

"And did you have any backup choices you considered?"

"Sure. I thought about calling him Frothy Freeman. Bubbles was an obvious choice. Lather is the Best Medicine, or Lats for short. S-Car was in the running before I realized he couldn't _go_ very fast."

"And there are more, I'm sure," she said with a smile. She motioned past me with her, almost using her chin to point. "You wanted to find the roller coasters, right?"

"Absolutely." I already knew which direction to follow to find the roller coasters. One jutted into the sky much higher than the booths selling random bobbles, games, and foods that I'm pretty sure were intended to cause internal injuries. Who deep fries bananas in butter? Pineapples, sure, but bananas are just crossing a line.

Once I rounded Gourmand's Alley, I got a much better view of the roller coasters. Fey was not underselling them when she said they were intended for kids. One of them was a single banana car with eight seats running a short circuit around a track with no more than a twelve-degree grade. Hardly worth writing home about.

The second coaster was better. I wasn't sure exactly what happened in the sheltered portion, but the puddles of water accumulating around the outside suggested there was water involved, and the screams coming from that side further suggested the water was some surprise to the riders. Another section of that coaster swung outside and had a single loop-the-loop in the open sun. That's where I saw the inverted carriage: The seats were on the underside of the rail.

"You didn't say anything about it being an inverted roller coaster."

Fey chuckled. "I figured you'd like that. The line's not too long, either. Most people are back there at the talent show." She noticed my grimace and explained to me, "The roller coaster will be here until closing. The talent show is a one-time thing. People will swarm to their last chance here after the shows are over."

"That makes sense," I uttered, but I only heard most of what she said. Exiting the inverted coaster with the mass of people was Brooke, and she was wearing a polo-style shirt—bright yellow with a bunch of bananas drawn in white across her torso. Her hair was curled and she wore sunglasses that had bananas on the rims. It was not her usual fashion.

And she looked only mildly amused to see me. It was difficult for her to hide her disappointment, but I think it gave way to legitimate curiosity. I only know that because she didn't walk away from me. When she saw me approach, she actually folded her arms over her chest and waited for me.

"Tell me you're wearing that shirt because someone has to spot you from space."

"Fashion advice from a guy who wore crew socks with shorts every day for a year," she smirked.

"My ankles get cold. What's with the glasses?"

"Complimentary for my victory at the Field Gym. They're cheesy, I know, but I figured I'd stick around for the day and enjoy the festival. It only happens once a year." She grinned at me. "Care for a pokémon battle?"

"A battle? Here?"

"Why not? I want to see how much you've grown since the other day." Tipping her head backward, she said, "There's a small area back here specifically designated for battles. Little kids have been back there all day, but I'm pretty sure we can borrow the field for two minutes."

"You figure two minutes is enough?"

"Not exactly, but I added an extra forty seconds to console you after I win."

"Ah, that's funny. Did you hear that, Fey? Fey?" When I turned around, my tall tour guide wasn't there. I looked around for her cloak but I couldn't locate it anywhere nearby. Apparently she just disappeared. I wonder why.

Brooke looked confused, possibly a bit offended. "Fey? That almost sounds like a girl's name."

"I don't know if she's male or female," I joked. "She told me she's female and I believed her because she was wearing a skirt and has softer skin than I do. I'm not sure where she went, though. I thought she was right behind me."

"Don't you wish? Let's just do this battle, Romeo."

The field she mentioned was at the northeast end of the town, only a few meters beyond the last of the festival tents. It was a small clearing with clumps of dirt and sod strewn all about. From the appearance, battles were pretty common in the area throughout the year—not just today. Maybe some pickup games of football, too.

"Are we doing one-on-one?" I asked her.

Brooke's eyes popped open with surprise. "Does that question mean you actually managed to capture a second pokémon?"

"Yes, I did," I replied. "It's a foamert. Want to see?"

"Not really. I'm more interested in how Reggie compares with Lykos." She pulled a pokéball from her side and spun it around her palm once. "You game?"

"Yeah, I think so." I whipped out Reggie's pokéball out and pressed the release trigger. The device sprung open as the electromagnetic energy poured out and resumed its original shape—a twenty-pound fur ball with a cat grin. Reggie was immensely excited to get back out of the ball. He ran straight back to me and rubbed up against my leg. "Hey, buddy," I told him as I knelt and began rubbing his face. "I'm happy to see you, too."

Laughter escaped Brooke's lips as she rubbed her head. "Oh, man. You _so_ don't have a battler's spirit. You still act like a kid."

"Yeah? How do _you_ do it?"

She grinned. She pressed the release trigger on her pokéball and continued staring at me while the disproportionately large mass of red energy fell to the ground and took shape. The scenario felt slow to me as I tried to take in all the new information. First of all, the body of this pokémon was much bigger than I remembered. From what I remembered, Brooke's canisouse was about the same length as my knee to the ground—my hip to the ground if he stretched his paws out—and weighed maybe fifteen pounds—overall about the same as Reggie. This pokémon was clearly not the same: Now it was as long as my entire body _without_ stretching and had to weigh _at least_ what I weighed, though probably a bit more.

The weight was distributed across the body differently now. To start, the tail was twice as big around as a canisouse's tail. The hind legs appeared much thicker than the forelegs, but the back was quite pointed around the top of the spine. The entire body was bulkier and the white fur was tinged with blue, most prominently around the crest of the skull. From the tip of the snout to between the ears, blue fur took a shape resembling a stripe. Actually, when the wind blew through the fur and made it dance, the crest looked more like a small stream of water waves.

I definitely recognized the snarl and that flame of dislike behind the eyes, though. It was much more frightening coming from a creature my size.

"What in the world did you do to Lykos?" I asked her.

"You really are clueless. I didn't do anything to him. Lykos evolved. My little canisouse has become a delycan."

_Well, this isn't going to be as easy as last time._

"Water Pulse."

"Use Ember!"

Reggie produced a pretty hefty stream of fire in front of him. Lykos produced a massive ring of water-based energy that pulsated and burst suddenly into physical water. Not only did the attack slam heavily into Reggie, but the castoff drenched me, as well.

_Not easy at all._

"What in the world was that?" I asked. It wasn't a physical attack, at least at first. It was like a blast of imaginary power—imaginary in the sense of being nonphysical—followed by the instantaneous transformation of that imaginary matter into real matter. I know it sounds like some next-level metaphysical stuff that can't be explained by a fifteen-year-old whose understanding of physics is rudimentary at best, and that's exactly why the event caught me so off guard.

"It was a Water Pulse," Brooke explained. "A pulsating blast of water that strikes with a lot of power. More than Reggie can handle at his level." She was probably right. Lord knows I felt like I was hit by a fire hose, and I didn't suffer the full brunt of the attack, plus I can handle water better than Reggie can.

But even Brooke was amazed by the sight of Reggie holding steady on his feet. His eyes were closed, his legs shook, and he looked in terrible pain, but he was up. "He survived that attack?" I hoped she meant that he should have passed out—not that she intended to kill him.

"Little guy's tougher than I thought."

"Then we'll just have to give him another Water Pulse," Brooke growled.

Lykos moved with such speed and force that I couldn't offer another command. My mind drew a complete… Um… I couldn't even remember what you draw when your mind draws a…

My mouth didn't work, but my eye still caught sight of something. At the instant Lykos barked out another pulse, the air itself around Reggie's body seemed like it was on fire as he used Ember again by himself. Even Brooke had to notice how much bigger the flame was this time. When the water hit the fire, much of it evaporated instantaneously and blinded me with heavy vapor.

"Reggie?"

The steam cleared quickly, revealing Reggie lying unconscious on the ground, completely soaked. I pulled him into my arms and felt his breathing. He was okay, but wounded pretty heavily. No cuts or bleeding. It seemed more like an allergic reaction, or maybe some form of internal bruising. Old Man Max said potions would help with that, right? I reached into the little sack and found one of the purple bottles. The spray nozzle made the application of the lotion much easier and quicker. I sprayed it over Reggie's body until the bottle was empty, and then I helped massage the potion into his skin.

"I can't believe it took two Water Pulses to take him out," Brooke commented. "I guess you're not an abject failure as a trainer, after all, though you definitely lack the battling edge. Lykos was still tired after running the gamut at the Field Gym and he won without a hitch."

"Typing can mean the difference in battle," I uttered quietly, stroking Reggie's fur. I looked up at Brooke. "Or it can mean squat. Just wait until the next time we battle."

"I don't think so," she laughed me off. She stroked Lykos's head, evoking a pleasant whimper from him, and then recalled him into the pokéball. "As far as I'm concerned, we're done. You'll never be able to catch up to me. I'm way too far ahead of you." She walked away from me doing that cocky strut she had—the one where her hips popped so far with each step I kinda hoped she would sprain something just for karmic justice.

"She may be right this time," I whispered as I recalled my sleepy pokémon into his pokéball. "Then again, if going to a gym is what built up Lykos so much, then maybe that's what we should do."

* * *

><p><em>Brooke and Lykos has grown a lot stronger in a short period of time while Gus and Reggie are still acting like kids. Will Gus be able to catch up?<em>  
><em>Thanks again to <strong>WolfSummoner93<strong> for submitting Fey. Where'd she go?_  
><em><strong>Next time:<strong> The Field Gym is closed during festival hours, and so Gus will need to find lodging for the night. What's a Pokémon Center, anyway?_

_**Trivia:** Canisouse is named from **canis** and **douse**, representing a watery canine. Similarly, delycan comes from **deluge** and **lycan**, representing a wolf, specifically, with greater amounts of water power._


	11. Mimic

Mimic

On a scale of 1 to Death-Defying, that roller coaster barely blew my hair back. It was fun, but nothing terribly exciting. Definitely not worth the screaming fit the four-year-old had, or the vomiting fit displayed by the thirty-five-year-old with the queasy stomach who finished third in a banana-eating contest and just _had_ to prove that he could handle the "big boy rides."

Oddly enough, it made me hungry. I took a quick trip to the rest room and then grabbed a Banana Slammer for a snack. It was some kind of pudding-filled banana, deep-fried and then coated in sugar. And then I took another trip to the rest room. It was awesome!

The only unusual thing about the roller coaster ride was that the aforementioned whiners plus six more people were the only riders. The grounds were pretty empty at this point. I wondered where everyone would go when the sun hadn't even set yet. Then I remembered about the wrestling show Fey mentioned. It already started, and might be over already depending on the format, but it was worth stopping by. Fey spoke so highly of it and it did sound interesting. Reggie wasn't strong enough to fight with Lykos right now, but wouldn't it be cool if _I_ were? How could I pass up a chance to see a guy wrestling a pokémon?

As I neared the stage, it was obvious where all the festival-goers went. It looked like someone threw a balloon full of people at the stage and neglected to clean up the spill.

But I lost interest in the crowd when I saw what was happening on stage. The pokédex gave an accurate description of a hariyama—eight feet tall, eight hundred pounds, water balloon-shaped body—but actually seeing it was a wholly different experience. If I stood right beside the hariyama and looked up into its eyes, I wouldn't be able to see the sun. It would take six of me strapped together with duct tape before I could even resemble a creature of such girth, and even then it would outweigh us by a hundred pounds. Its entire body, round as it was, rippled with the level of precision that could only be demonstrated by sheer muscle.

That's what made the man so much more impressive to see. This guy was seven-and-a-half feet tall and had a stocky, sturdy body that I estimated at five-and-a-half hundred pounds. It was easier to guess because he wore form-fitting trunks and nothing else save shoes. He had the type of body that looked like he ate too many sweets and drank enough to have swallowed a keg whole, but I knew that wasn't the case as he fought back against the hariyama. It was also pretty obvious when the guy managed to slip his arm down low, get his shoulder to the hariyama's belly, and then lift the ginormous pokémon over his head before throwing it back to the floor.

My silver tongue simply came up with: "Whoa."

"I told you you'd enjoy it."

Now my silver tongue came up with: "Holy crap!" and my twinkle toes came up with a thirty-centimeter hop-and-spin so I could see Fey's tall form had snuck up behind me, and she could see my startled form had turned bright red and gotten _very_ wide-eyed.

"Geez. Next time, just throw a snake at me."

"Sorry," she said with a little smile. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"Did you mean to disappear, 'cause that's what you did?"

She took a step back and shifted her stance so she faced away from me and looked at the stage. "I'm not much of a people person. I like to hang back and just check out the scene for the most part: That's why I'm at the back of the crowd even though I was really looking forward to this show." Suddenly her eyes showed a bit of fire. "Plus, I thought that girl might be the one who wanted you dead!"

I forced fake, somewhat nervous laughter. "Yeah. I may have been a bit off in my assessment of her disappearance. She seems to have channeled her anger at me into intensive training for her pokémon. We had a short battle because Reggie couldn't last any longer."

"How does that make you feel?" She asked the question genuinely. I could tell because she actually looked away from the stage to read my reaction. Maybe she already suspected my answer.

"I want to get stronger."

She smiled and looked back at the stage. "Good. You should go to the gym and meet Garfield, the Gym Leader. He's got a little bit of bite to him, but I'm sure you'll enjoy meeting him. He can certainly teach you a few things."

"I guess that means I'll need to find a place to set up camp for the night."

"Don't be ridiculous. There are places in town."

"Yeah, okay. So anyway, tell me about this guy," I requested, focusing on the match again. The big guy threw the hariyama a second time. I wasn't sure if I was more impressed that the hariyama kept getting back up or that the big guy kept throwing him back down.

"His name is Caan," Fey explained. "He's… Well, there's not really a euphemistic way to say it. He's got a birth defect, and people with birth defects are often treated differently."

"What do you mean? Is his birth defect called _giantism_?"

Her responding chuckle was not a pleasant one. "Yeah. A lot of birth defects are tough to hide." She didn't answer the question. That usually meant I was right. "You can imagine what it's like for him to walk down the street, being seen by _everybody_ with no hope of hiding from their frightened glances. A place like this—a festival where the entire purpose for some is to draw attention with costumes and games and virtually none of the attention is negative… This is the kind of place where he can actually feel normal."

I would have to be deaf not to hear the sorrow in her voice. "You speak with authority."

"I've met the man," she said.

"That makes sense. That's why you were so eager to come here and see the show. His ability to deal with his giantism and turn it into fame sounds pretty inspiring. Proof that our differences don't have to be our weaknesses."

"It's not that simple," she said. "It's a temporary fix at best, and he's still just exploiting himself. Caan's trying to pretend his defect doesn't exist while shining the spotlight right on himself and bragging about that very defect. Bringing his condition to the public eye for a few bucks and free bananas."

I hadn't thought of it that way. To some degree, maybe he would want to hide, but considering his size, it seemed impossible. "On the other hand, maybe he's using this opportunity—out in the open when no one's scared—to show them there's nothing to be scared of."

"Then he should lose," she muttered. "Unfortunately, some people see and enjoy an event like this one day, and then they turn around and treat it as proof that people are dangerous."

This cynicism seemed to come out of nowhere. Sure, I'd probably be scared if the guy cornered me and gave me the same look that Brooke usually does, but every time he sat down in between rounds during this match, he had an enormous smile on his face and he laughed a lot. I imagined his trainers—short, six-foot-tall guys who watered him and wiped the sweat from his brow—made jokes about the match, such as when the giant pointed to the hariyama's foot and told him his shoes were untied. (For reference, the hariyama had looked and gotten body slammed as a result.)

"Here we go," Fey told me, trying to restore the enthusiasm to her voice. "The final round." The anticipation in the crowd was palpable. I'd never heard this many people fall silent simultaneously before (except for that time I accidentally upset an oddish during a town hall meeting and it scattered a Sleep Spore over everybody). It was eerie, but Fey helped break the silent tension as the combatants approached one another. "Caan is ahead in points, but he's getting tired. If that hariyama gets a lucky hit or two, it could pin him easily."

The fight was intense. The hariyama seemed to know it was the last round, and its final chance to make a comeback. It started by holding its open palms side by side and whipping them up and down as fast as its massive arms could handle: It produced a small whirlwind that resulted in more than one lost hat among the spectators. The whirlwind also resulted in Caan dropping to his knees as he struggled to remain upright. The hariyama took his advantage by thrusting its humongous palm at Caan and smacking him in the face hard enough to break his nose. It was a gruesome sight, but the big guy didn't seem terribly concerned considering the hariyama was obviously going for the knockout. I didn't know a lot about wrestling moves, but I could read the hariyama's foot movement to see its plan to move in close as soon as Caan got back up. And as soon as he looked up, the hariyama swept in close, just swinging away, not offering a single care to defense.

One punch was all that landed.

Caan let the first punch hit him, but he used the momentum to pull the hariyama aside and slip in behind the massive pokémon. He looped his forearms under the hariyama's, leaned back, and jumped surprisingly well for a guy his size. He didn't land the flip completely, but it didn't matter because the hariyama was the one that took the brunt of the hit.

Both fighters stumbled away from one another for a moment, probably dizzy from blood loss and generally being smacked in the head. The hariyama began pounding its belly and grunting loudly, either psyching itself up for battle or trying to contact the female of its species—I wasn't quite sure. When the drumming stopped, the hariyama stepped up and was distracted by Caan's left fist. He held it in front of him, within arm's reach of the hariyama, and made a large circle with his arm. The hariyama watched the circle, waiting for the attack, but the move was a feint: Caan swung his right arm in from the other side for the real hit.

"Sneaky," I uttered in amazement. It was an impressive play, even if the opponent was less capable of critical thinking than its opponent. I'm just saying that sucker punch might not have worked on me the same way because I would know that no real wrestler is going to make arm circles in the middle of the match without having an ulterior motive in mind.

With the hariyama stunned, Caan grabbed his opponent high and dove with it toward the ground. They both hit the ground pretty hard, and I think Caan hit his head, but the hariyama again suffered the worst of it, and this time, its shoulders were on the ground. Caan slid around to the hariyama's head and lay out across its torso, effectively pinning it in place. The count to ten was agonizing and I'm pretty sure it was done exclusively for the purpose of building dramatic tension, but finally the count was over, the hariyama was pinned, and the giant of a man was declared the continued champion.

I joined the crowd in shouting my support. That was truly an amazing sight. To think, a human could fight head-to-head with an actual pokémon using real attacks! It wasn't like that hariyama held back or limited itself to human wrestling moves: It attacked using the real power a fighting-type pokémon can bring. At moments, that fact raised questions about calling this a wrestling match, but that was a relatively minor deviation I was willing to accept in exchange for such an awesome display.

"You were right," I admitted to Fey. "That was totally worth it."

The crowd began to disperse, and I strongly identified with the reason. The sun had already set, dropping a veil of darkness along the town's backdrop, plus I was feeling the effects of wandering the woods and nearly being drowned. I wanted a bed. One with a pillow. I think that's what I missed the most when camping.

"Do you know anywhere I can catch a few winks?"

"I don't even know you," she replied.

I was a bit puzzled by her statement. "Yeah. I didn't ask you to marry me. I just don't want to sleep outside tonight. There are a lot of giant bugs outside at night. I think one of them stole a pair of socks from me. Now I've only got one left."

Fey chuckled. "Well, we wouldn't want you left outside with thieving bugs targeting your last pair of socks." What was she talking about, _pair_ of socks? Those bugs left me with just one sock! "I won't lend you my couch, but I can show you to the Pokémon Center."

That was a term I didn't know. "Pokémon… Center?"

"Oh, come on. You must know what a pokémon center is."

"Natrium is a really small village," I reminded her.

"Come on. I'll show you." She signaled for me to follow her. We headed down a few streets a fair distance from the festival grounds. We passed by a residential section and into what might be considered a service area. The fire house was a one-story building that didn't look terribly impressive in the case of natural disaster, but they had to be better than the volunteer fire department we had back in Natrium Village. I remembered when Craig's shed caught fire from exploding voltorbs. The Elder called the volunteer—just one guy—who replied that he couldn't go to a fire right then because he always took a nap at that same time every day. That's when the Elder hired an actual firefighter who had a trained blastoise.

The sheriff's office was also one story and had a large parking lot with white police motorcycles out front. The lot did offer space to a few police cars, but I guessed in a town this size, getting from one end to another didn't take too much time as long as some form of locomotion was possible. A motorbike seemed more than sufficient. A pair of bike racks up against the walls lined up un-motored bikes: They probably served better patrol purposes because they used no energy save physical manpower.

The hospital looked less impressive. More of a clinic, probably. At least it was three stories, but the sign pointing out the "EMERGE CY" room was faded and missing an N. _Note to self: Don't ever break anything._

The more impressive building was the one at the corner. A three-story building with walls lined with windows. Even the front door was a pair of sliding glass doors set on an automated track. Across town, yellow seemed to be the dominant color, but this building stood out with its brilliant red roofing, which probably made it look ablaze in the sunlight. The address sign out front included the words Kalium Pokémon Center, and there was a big logo above the front door resembling a pokéball.

"My brilliant reasoning leads me to believe this is the place."

Fey jabbed me in the shoulder. "_Anyway_, this place is where wandering trainers go to receive treatment for their wounded pokémon and preventive care in general. The staff here consults on all sorts of regulatory services for trainers. They should have a room for you tonight."

I groaned as I thought about the rather small clip of bills in my bag. "How much is that going to cost?"

"Rooms are definitely cheaper here than anywhere else in town. It shouldn't run more than 20P. I don't know the exact price because I don't stay here."

"Makes sense if you live in town. No extra rooms in the place, huh?"

She smiled at my reluctance to leave her. "I have roommates who tend toward introversion. I wouldn't spring something like a houseguest on them."

"I understand."

I didn't intend to show any apprehension. I've stayed lots of places I wasn't invited throughout my youth, a few of which the owners were actually aware of my presence. This couldn't be worse than that, but Fey took one look at me and said, "Trust me, this place is as safe as anywhere. The low cost is just for the sake of traveling pokémon trainers and says nothing about the level of security. In fact, the sheriff's department is right there!"

"Sorry." I wasn't really nervous about where I was sleeping that night. If anything, I was still nervous about beginning my journey alone. Brooke was clearly ready to make this into a competition, and she had a massive head start on me. Forcing my apprehension aside, I offered Fey a handshake. "I guess this is where we part ways. Thanks for all your help."

She smiled at me. "You're welcome."

"Any advice for me?"

"Absolutely. Go to the pokémon gym in the morning. I know I mentioned this already: The gym leader will get you set on the right track, and you'll even see that training gap between you and your sister shrink quite a bit."

"I get to the gym often enough, thank you," I said, flexing my arms and revealing the fact that I didn't have a whole lot to show. "But I will take that under advisement and consider the option."

She simply chuckled. "Good night, Gus." With that, she walked back through town toward the aforementioned residential area. Nothing else to do, I entered the pokémon center.

The inside was well coordinated, very clean. The tile floors were some sort of peach-yellow color, which seemed to match the off-white walls. There were two sitting rooms to either side of the entryway, each with different sets of matched furniture and big-screen televisions, and the big, huge, information desk right in front of me was painted red and decked with the same pokéball symbol as the outside of the building. A screen was displayed on the wall right behind the desk, providing a scroll of information about caring for your pokémon; the scroll ended and the screen turned to some sort of commercial touting a special blend of herbs intended to promote healthy and happy pokémon in a _natural_ way. But I couldn't hear the commercial over the toning sound I guessed was created every time someone entered or exited the building.

A pretty young woman wearing an apron stood up behind the counter and smiled at me. I simply pointed back at the door and said, "I'll bet that sound gets annoying after a while."

She made a sympathetic face. "Aww. I like it."

"It's catchy," I agreed. "That's the problem, though. Once it gets in your head, there's no getting it out. Especially if you hear it dozens of times a day."

"Well, this place has gone through a lot of changes over the years. That little tune is one thing that hasn't changed at all."

I narrowed my eyes at her as I approached and examined her a bit more closely. She had long, feathered hair tipped with bangs over her forehead. Her hair was the exact same shade of brown as her eyes—light brown, like Terracotta. Her outfit was coordinated pink, the same as every stereotypical nurse wore: That's how I guessed what she did at this center. But most contrary to her comment was that her skin was completely wrinkle-free. She was old enough not to deal with breakouts the way I occasionally did, but she was too young to use the phrase "over the years."

"I haven't worked here all this time," she explained to me, "but I have lived in this town my whole life. You, on the other hand, are a new face. You here for the banana festival?"

"Be tough to ignore it once I got here," I admitted. Offering a handshake, I said, "I'm Gus. I just got here today from Natrium Village."

"I'm Katie," she greeted me with a smile. "I've never been to Natrium. That's out near the salt mines, right?"

"Not far, yeah. So, uh… I heard this would be a good place for me to rent a room for the night."

"Of course!" she replied excitedly. "Is this your first time coming to a pokémon center?" I told her it was. "Well, let me give you the rundown. In a nutshell, a pokémon center is your number one stop for healing your pokémon. The equipment we have here is capable of healing your pokémon in just minutes, restoring stamina and curing injury and illness. Additionally, we do provide temporary lodging for traveling pokémon trainers, and we can even offer advice and other kinds of help to get new trainers started."

"That obvious that I'm new?"

She smiled reassuringly. "Even small children know what a pokémon center is." The smile was in place to assure me that she was willing to attribute my ignorance to being inexperienced and from a very small village where the population wasn't high enough to warrant a pokémon center or a fire department.

"True. Not a lot of pokémon there, and definitely no doctors. We just had an old guy named Phil who always wanted to take everyone's temperature rectally. I never liked that guy."

"That's funny," she told me. If only I were joking… "I've got you down for one night."

"Don't you need money from me?"

"No," she said with a little laugh. "Pokémon Centers serve vital functions for society, so the town council pays to keep the place running the same way they do the police or the fire department." Free was certainly better for me than the alternative. But free service meant _some_ shortcomings: "We don't have cooks here or anything, but you will see vending machines, I can recommend some places in town, or you can just head back to the festival and try to catch some of the vendors before they close up for the night. You should try a Banana Slammer!"

My stomach turned loudly at the very mention of that particular snack. "We've met."

"Maybe just the diner next door, then."

"Actually, all this pokémon center stuff brings up a good question: What do kid pokémon trainers do for money?"

"You don't have any money?" The room was free, so that wasn't what she was worried about. She looked pretty concerned for me when she didn't even know me. I'd never met someone quite so empathetic before.

"I can be impulsive and I don't think my actions all the way through." To be fair, who would have thought the worst consequence of climbing a waterfall was to spoil the ecosystem?

I'm not sure Katie really knew the answer to my money question. She looked down at the desk, or at the computer there, more specifically. She did some kind of search without offering me a look, but she seemed to come up with some answers. "Some common ways to make money while you travel include bartering wares between towns—you know, like buying stuff here and selling it in Ferrum City for a higher price—or providing goods and services to the towns you visit in exchange for a fee or commission, but the most common way is to get sponsored."

"Sponsored? Like by Nike?"

"Product sponsorships are not common, but some people do. There are actually a lot of grants you can apply for. Provided you follow certain constraints that limit your expenses from _extravagant_ to _reasonable_, some people are willing to donate the cost of your entire journey."

"Completely comped? Why?"

Katie shrugged. "Charity, sentiment, tax write-offs, that kind of thing. You want to give it a shot?"

"You think someone might actually sponsor my journey? I don't even know anyone providing the funds for these grants. Don't you need connections?"

"Lots of kids get sponsorships without ever meeting their benefactors." She pulled an application out of a folder and pushed it on the desk in front of me and slid a pen beside it. "Fill it out. What's the worst that could happen? The best that could happen is you don't have to worry about money during your journey."

"You make a good point," I said as I spun the pen around my thumb. "Let's give it a shot."

"Great. While you do that, I'd be happy to heal your pokémon for you."

Curious, I pulled the two pokéballs from my waist. "Heal them how?"

She held her hands out and waited for me to hand her the pokéballs. She placed them in a sort of centrifuge behind the desk. It was a round device with six divots, clearly shaped for pokéballs. Each divot had a light and a tube that connected it to the bigger machine. "Basically, I just put your pokéballs here," she said as she placed Reggie and Siggy in two of the divots, "and then the machine brings the electromagnetic waves inside the pokéball back to equilibrium."

"That sounds complicated," I pointed out. I think I understood it: Pokémon exist as electromagnetic energy when inside a pokéball, and the machine used electrical currents to find equilibrium with the electromagnetism, which essentially provided the pokémon perfect health and restored vigor. But there was another question burning me about that whole concept: "Who came up with this?"

"I'm not sure," Katire admitted. "I haven't really studied the history of this piece of equipment. I just know how the machine works."

"Fair enough. How long does it take?"

"Oh… Just six or seven… seconds."

I think I flinched visibly at that response. The lights had already turned off on the machine and a second annoying tone suggested the process was complete. "Oh. So, you're done with them already?"

She smiled and handed me the two pokéballs. "Yep!" The timing was pretty good, too, because that's when an older couple walked in holding an aipom that looked like it was dying. Whenever Craig looked like that back home, I knew he'd had too much to eat. This Banana Festival was probably a time for all monkey pokémon to attempt suicide-by-gluttony. "You go ahead and fill that application out and just bring it back to me when you're done."

The application was pretty standard. Name, birthday, hometown, blood type, medical background… and that was just for my pokémon. Seriously, though, it took me only a couple of minutes to fill out, including the essay prompt. The prompt was a simple request for me to indicate my long-term goal with pokémon training. I decided to answer honestly, that I was still so new and uninitiated that I wanted to figure out my long-term goal through experiencing the world. When I learn what the world of pokémon has to offer, that's when I'll figure out what I want to do with it.

It seemed like a simple answer to me—certainly worth an A on any school essay—but I still wondered about it even as I headed to the room I rented and drifted off to sleep. Life hit me so quickly, I never really stopped to wonder about how my life would go. Sure, I enjoyed the novelty of having pokémon now, but would that feeling last for the rest of my life? What other options did I have if my interests changed? The one thing I was certain about: I didn't want to end up like Old Man Max, living in the mountains all alone.

Somehow, I managed to wonder about my future all the way through the night. I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping and my final thought about my future: Fey said I should go to the Kalium Field Gym for training. That sounded like a good start for the kid with no clue where to go.

Navigating today versus yesterday was the difference between night and a ham sandwich. With no bananas lining the streets and covering the buildings, I could actually see farther than ten meters at a time. A couple of kids playing in a field with their pokémon were able to point me to the gym at the northern end of town. The building stood out pretty well. It only a single story high, but it was about a hundred meters from one end to the other, and more than forty meters back. The roof was green, not because of the paint job but because there was an entire field of grass on top. I couldn't imagine how annoying it was to maintain a building like this one. No one ever had to mow a paint job.

"Welcome!" spoke an energetic man whose age and enthusiasm both suggested coffee was the only thing keeping him alive. He suddenly calmed a bit as he eyed me up and down. "You're a new face in town. Are you here to challenge the gym leader Garfield?"

"Maybe." I didn't really understand the question. "What kind of challenge?"

"You do not know about the regional gym challenge?"

I made a face by clenching my jaw and remained silent for a moment. "I guess not. I'm pretty new at training, and someone told me that I should come here to seek training."

The old man's eyes lit up with renewed life. "Oh! Then let me introduce you to Garfield." He reached for my wrist, but I pulled it back from him and said, "Whoa! Not big on the touching." He didn't seem to care, and instead pulled me by a handful of my shirt. (This was _way_ more embarrassing than when the Elder allowed—more like _encouraged_—the old ladies in Natrium to pinch my cheeks.) He dragged me straight past the gym's main room—a thin and very long stretch of grass where five trainers were training their pokémon—and into a much smaller office.

I'm not sure what I expected to see when I met the Gym Leader. Maybe someone Herculean in stature, or at least someone bigger and buffer than that wrestler. But Garfield was not particularly noticeable as he sat at a desk, probably filling out paperwork on his computer. He was only a head taller than I, and though he was a bit bigger, he simply wore a navy blue t-shirt, tight enough to reveal he was physically fit, and blue jeans. He had red hair shaved all the way down to give his head a five o'clock shadow, with a prominent widow's peak that helped show why he shaved his head: Even if he was only middle-aged, time was taking his hairline away from him.

"Garfield," the old man said excitedly. "This young man has come here to train with you."

I wasn't sure Garfield heard him at first. He never looked up from the desk. He continued typing away for almost a full minute before he closed the laptop, pushed his chair back, and stood from the desk. He grabbed a small pile of paper from a plastic tray as he walked toward the door. Still without giving me any attention, he simply said, "Let's go."

"Go where?" I asked.

Somehow, that question crossed a line with him. Now Garfield turned around and looked me straight in the face. "Since you have trouble following basic commands, I'm going to start treating you like a new puppy who needs to be trained." He quickly brought his arm up and popped me in the nose with those rolled-up papers. He whistled loudly in my face and said in a stern, syncopated voice, "Heel!" He promptly turned and walked away from me, the way he originally began.

Sticking my finger in my ear to restore blood flow, I uttered, "Ow. Thanks." Right off the bat, Garfield was hardly the friendliest person I ever met. In hindsight, maybe that would have been good reason not to stick around, but at the time, I saw a male version of Brooke. For all I knew, he could be a long-lost brother.

We went into the field room where the other trainers were working. Garfield stood at one end and whistled so loudly all five trainers heard it and stopped what they were doing. How was he so loud? He didn't even use his fingers!

"Cesar!" he shouted. "Challenger!" I saw one guy withdraw a pokémon from the distance as he ran down this way.

To the old man, I asked, "Do you think he'd teach me how to whistle?" I never got an answer on that.

Cesar wasn't much older than I. His complexion was darker and he had a perfect little goatee that I envied immediately. I tried growing facial hair once and it came up in so many patches it looked like I was wearing hairy Band-Aids.

Garfield jerked his head back as a way of pointing at me without having to look at me, and it would have been too much work to uncross his arms and gesticulate. "Battle him for me, would you?"

"Sure," Cesar said happily. He opened a pokéball and eventually revealed a different pokémon from the one he was training a moment ago. This one was a stantler—I'd seen plenty of them out in the woods. I knew they could be vicious in the right circumstances, though they were generally pretty docile and fearful. Maybe if Reggie were a fully grown lion pokémon, a simple roar would be enough to end a battle.

Speaking of which, I decided to use Reggie for this battle. I hadn't really given any training time to Siggy yet, and I had the feeling this battle would be important for my enrollment at this gym. I wanted to put my best _paw_ forward, as it were. Get it?

"A simbder," I heard Garfield say behind me as he hummed amusedly to himself. He seemed impressed with my choice. I later realized "impressed" wasn't the right word.

"Use hypnosis!" Cesar shouted while I was still waiting to hear someone say "go." I guess that was it. The stantler braced itself, leaning forward to display those big, creepy antlers. The tricky part was the optical illusion they created: Little orbs grew at the bottom of the curved antlers, which made them look like giant eyes. Add to that the soothing sound of the vibrations from shaking them unnoticeably quickly and any unsuspecting or low-energy pokémon might fall asleep.

Reggie was very high-energy. The hypnosis had no effect on him. "Hit him with Ember!" Reggie inhaled deeply and built up the fire in his throat.

"Fall back," Cesar replied quickly. "Light Screen!"

Just as flames erupted from Reggie's jowls, the stantler again leaned forward, and its antlers resonated again, this time producing an almost-imperceptible force field that caused the flames to dissipate on contact. The stantler didn't escape unscathed as some of the fire managed to slip through and singe the fur of the buck, but I'd seen lakes take more damage than that from Reggie's Ember attack.

"Good work. Stomp on him!" The stantler used its position to create instant momentum as it bounded at Reggie and slammed a hoof down on him. I've never tested a stantler's hoof on Moh's hardness scale, but out of sheer guessing, I was glad Reggie was so energetic and playful as to bounce away and avoid the attack. "Thrash!" The stantler, apparently as frustrated by missing his target as his trainer was, began to flail about in place, especially whipping its antlers toward Reggie.

"How sloppy," I noted. That move had no finesse, and every time the stantler took its eyes off of Reggie, it became that much easier for Reggie to avoid being gored. "Ember again!"

"Stop!" Cesar yelled at his thrashing stantler. The command was curt, but effective; the pokémon halted its movement immediately and braced itself in preparation of another command. I think it _had_ to brace itself because the world was spinning from all that thrashing. "Light Screen!"

Ah, another defensive barrier. That was going to be a problem.

"That stantler there is bigger, stronger, and more experienced than your simbder, Snoople," Garfield said to me. His voice was very calm, yet it felt like he was pushing me a little bit. But why'd he call me the same name as a comic dog? "If you can't hit him, you can't win."

"Is this the kind of advice I'd be getting if I studied here?" I asked him.

"Fair enough, but if I'm going to spend my time teaching you something, you're going to have to show me you can learn something."

Was that some kind of Zen mind trick or something? How could I learn _before_ being taught? What kind of nonsense was that?

"Never take your eyes off the field!" Cesar warned me. "Use Astonish!" The stantler bounced briefly and pounded its forepaws into the ground, letting out a loud and horrific bleating sound that probably stunned Reggie and me more than any bad banana puns ever could.

"Banana puns," I thought subvocally. "Fill your belly with fire, Reggie! We're going to smoke him!"

Cesar grunted and shook his head. "Again? Use Light Screen!" The stantler leaned forward and—

"Never mind. Quick Attack, Reggie!" Reggie suddenly dashed from his spot without spewing the fire. The stantler reacted with a start and lifted its head, revealing its weak underbelly for Reggie to plow into. But Reggie didn't swallow the fire like I expected him to. All that fire he built up for the Ember attack leaked out while he ran and ignited himself, turning the attack into some kind of high-speed, flaming tackle. The combination was enough to flip the stantler onto its back while Reggie pounced on top of it.

Cesar wasn't happy that worked, but his stantler wasn't out yet. "Tail Whip!" I hollered to Reggie while he still had the advantage. He moved just enough to swing his tail out past the stantler's head, and as soon as I saw the eyes move… "Scratch instead!" Reggie had his tail pulled back to strike, but when the stantler prepared for it, Reggie swiped his paw.

The fight ended by default as Cesar withdrew his stantler into the pokéball, probably to avoid any more damage. "That's not cool. He just used the exact same strategy that giant guy used against the hariyama yesterday."

Garfield had raised one arm from his arms-folded position in order to tap his chin pensively. "Care to rebut, Rin Tin Tintei?"

I shrugged, ignoring the fact that he called me by another fictional dog's name. "It worked, didn't it? And it's not like I cheated."

"Good point." He put his arms in his pockets. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and the fastest way to learn something new. That's why you're here, Cesar." The boy nodded and apologized to me for seeming ungrateful. Garfield obviously wasn't one for sentiment. He turned to walk away while saying, "I'll fill in these registration forms. You introduce him around. Scoobreon will be with us for a while."

I raised an eyebrow. "So I'm in? For how long?"

"That depends on how well you learn," Garfield said. He stopped walking at the doorway back to his office. "I assume you want to make up some ground in order to catch up to that girl with the delycan who was in here the other day." Actually making eye contact with me, he added, "You better believe I'm going to make you work your butt off to get there."

Why did that sound more like a threat than a favor?

* * *

><p><em>Thanks again to <strong>WolfSummoner93<strong> for contributing Fey to the story. She and Gus have finally parted ways, but only time will tell if they will cross paths again. Next time, Gus learns what it's like to train in a pokémon gym day after day. Some might equate it to torture or abuse, but maybe it's worth it to see Reggie put on so much weight._

_**Trivia:** This week reintroduced the names of fictional canine characters into the world of pokémon._  
><em>Snoople = Snoopy + Snubble<em>  
><em>Rin Tin Tintei = Rin Tin Tin + Entei<em>  
><em>Scoobreon = Scooby Doo + Umbreon<em>


	12. Helping Hand

Helping Hand

"Why are we starting so early?" I asked. The Field Gym looked darker this early in the morning, and only partly because I couldn't get my eyes open. The sun wasn't even up yet—pretty much the definition of "too early to be awake."

Garfield didn't look the least bit sleepy. The man seemed to emanate anger and feed on unhappiness. "I told you yesterday, the type of training you requested requires you to be here from dawn to dusk."

I nodded slowly, fairly certain I heard him correctly. "And why wasn't I allowed to change?" He tilted his head and made a face at the two-sizes-too-small t-shirt I wore, exposing my underdeveloped abdomen and advertising the Mighty Morpheon Rangers—a children's show about eevee pokémon that fight intergalactic monsters. I had to borrow it from one of the other kids because I took advantage of the laundry machines to clean my clothes, which were, frankly, starting to smell like spring water mud, and I didn't have a lot of backup outfits.

"You were late," he answered. "Remember this and never be late again."

"Great." At least I borrowed shorts that fit.

The grass in this indoor field was getting pretty high, like wedgie high. If I'd worn tube socks, my ankles might not be itching so much. But all things considered, the field was really nice and paradoxical, especially considering what happened yesterday. You want to talk about an elephant in the room? After all the trainers finished for the day and headed to dinner, Garfield made me stay back and cut the grass. And if that's what I'd done, there probably would have been no problem, but I thought Reggie could help me do it quickly. I didn't realize that the term "spreading like wildfire" had such a logical origin.

"Where'd the grass come from?" I asked Garfield. "And how'd it get so high?"

"You're worried about your little screw-up?" he asked me.

"A little."

"Make it a lot," he snapped. His expression was as stern as the Elder ever gave me. Worse, probably, because I already knew what the Elder's limits were. "You could have burned the whole building down and killed one of your pokémon. Or worse, you could have killed one of _my_ pokémon."

Wow. Talk about laying it on thick.

"Those are _real_ consequences. Never convince yourself otherwise."

"But they're—"

"Do _not_ finish that sentence if you plan to suggest that killing pokémon, even by accident, is in _any_ way less bad than killing a person."

"That's not what I was going to say," I replied defensively. "They're fire types and water types here. Can't they contain the fire and put it out before it gets that bad? Like they did yesterday. And how is the grass here so lush again? It's like a blanket of golden fleece. I could lie down and sleep in it, if I don't drown in it first."

Now Garfield's expression turned to one of bewilderment, like he couldn't understand how I could worry about the fire I started while simultaneously being obsessed with the billowy grass. He inhaled a really deep breath and released it in a really slow, excruciating sigh. Was he getting ready to call me dog's names again?

"Look over there," he told me, pointing to the far end. Three monkeys with enormous ears were clowning around on the far end of the field. The red one kept picking weeds and berries from the field and scorching them, the blue one kept turning sideways and shaking its furry head to water the field, and the green one kept picking at itself and slapping the field. I checked my pokédex—the sack was the only thing I managed to grab on the way from the dorm—and discovered they were a trio that evolved homologously from a single ancestor. Living in varied environments caused the same species to evolve into three closely related species of the fire-, water-, and grass-type, and apparently they have similar reactions to radiation.

"The pansear, panpour, and pansage over there maintain the field. Together, they can work natural miracles with the soil in here. You think I would trust a newbie with _my_ gym? I just needed a baseline to see how much work I'd need with you and your pokémon."

My mood lightened a bit. That almost sounded inspiring. "So what'd you conclude?"

"You need a lot of work," he declared harshly. "Laps. Five. Right now." I groaned loudly. I hated running, especially by myself and with an angry guy glaring at me the whole time while I wore someone else's clothes that didn't fit me. It didn't go well last time that happened.

This time, I got maybe ten meters when Garfield yelled, "Not you! The pokémon!"

"Oh, them!" Right. Pokémon gym, so I should be training my pokémon. Made sense in hindsight. I opened both pokéballs at the same time, and Reggie and Siggy both popped out to join the party. Reggie definitely looked excited, but I couldn't tell with Siggy. His eyes were just two black spots to me, and he never blinked. Was there actually any way to read his emotions? "You guys ready to do some laps?" They didn't really seem to know what that meant.

"Tell them to follow along," Garfield said. The grass by his feet rustled loudly and two pokémon became visible once they started moving. One was a teddiursa—a growing bear cub that I learned from a young age is not against climbing trees to steal berries and a really cool baseball cap from a frightened child.

But I didn't recognize the other pokémon. It was a canine creature with yellowish fur, somewhat dragging in overall appearance like it didn't want to be bothered moving. Maybe that was because its skin was heavy and gray. Pokédex time!

_034-Pauldog_

_Blaze Pokémon_

_[Fire] [Steel]_

_Average Height: 3'10"_

_Average Weight: 86.4 lb._

_The armor worn by this pokémon is actually skin that hardened through development. Folds in the skin hide tiny wings growing near its midsection._

"A pauldog? And a teddiursa. Where'd you get those?"

"I caught them last night. They've already been taught the basics. They will demonstrate how to run laps. Have your pokémon follow." He whistled loudly and issued the single command, "Go!" His two pokémon took to the border of the field, staying just outside the grass while they began running. The teddiursa had small legs and didn't move very quickly, but the pauldog wasn't fast either. Maybe the weight of that armored skin made moving difficult. Reggie could run twice as many laps in the same amount of time as these pokémon.

Siggy, on the other hand…

"Um… Siggy doesn't exactly move quickly."

"Everyone runs laps until the foamert reaches five laps."

I shrugged. "Alright, guys. Let's run circles around this place." It only took me a few steps to leave Siggy behind, but Reggie immediately bolted out in front of me while I started on Lap 1. I really hated running.

"What are you doing?" Garfield called after me.

I waved at him. "I can't expect my pokémon to do something I'm unwilling to do, right?" He simply stood there and folded his arms across his chest. I couldn't believe I was actually able to render him speechless. But was that a good thing, or did it mean he'd make me pay later? Both times in my life I rendered Brooke speechless, I spent the night with ice on my cheeks.

By the time Siggy made it to five laps around the field, Reggie and I ran nine—he actually ran farther in terms of ground space because he kept running out ahead of me and then turning around to come back—the teddiursa ran seven, and the pauldog ran four. Siggy, a gastropod, actually outran a quadruped! What he lacked in ground speed he made up by bucking through the air. I had no idea a foamert was capable of jumping so far.

"Warm-up time is over," Garfield told me. "Your two assignments for this morning are to train the simbder to a repeat performance of yesterday's Flame Charge, and to win at least one battle using that foamert. While you work on Flame Charge, have the foamert run relays, through the grass this time. When that's done, begin training the foamert to use basic attacks. Spend the morning scrimmaging with these two. When other trainers arrive, begin scrimmaging against their pokémon. Now I realize I offered a lot of words in those instructions, many of which contained more than one syllable, so tell me, Growlassie, do you need further details on any of that?"

Another dog's name. Great. I wondered if he even remembered my real name.

But Reggie versus Siggy was an interesting idea. After ten minutes of trying to act out the motions of a Flame Charge with the hope that Reggie would repeat it, I figured he might not know it by that name. I was okay with his Ember attack, though, considering he burned down this entire field just yesterday with it. But I didn't really know what Siggy was capable of except that he was almost as fast moving through the thick grass as I was. I knew he could adapt to the environment in different ways, but I wasn't sure exactly how. We didn't exactly have any natural springs inside here.

"Siggy, use… Body Slam, or something." I just threw out a random attack, but Siggy actually knew that command, and he completed it in a way I'd never seen. Remember when I said he was a good jumper? He actually bounced into the air and spun around like a foaming discus targeting Reggie. Reggie braced himself and backed away, but Siggy actually moved with such speed and accuracy that he collided with Reggie dead-center. Both of my pokémon fell to the ground, wrapped around each other.

"Oh! That had to hurt."

I took a moment to retrieve a potion from the medicine cabinet and spread it between the two. Once we got set up again, I decided to give the dual battle another try. "Siggy, use Tackle! Reggie, use Ember!"

It occurred to me then how confusing it could be for the pokémon to hear two different commands coming from the same voice, even if they weren't intended to. Instead of starting a Tackle, Siggy held his ground for a moment while Reggie built up an Ember attack. It looked like Siggy heard the Ember call and wasn't able to do it, so he just stayed back confused while Reggie blew a pillow of fire at him. I wondered: If Siggy was a normal-type, did the foam bubbles around his skin still dilute the flames?

And then something happened I hadn't expected to see. A second pillow of flames blew into the field—from the other direction. Siggy—somehow—copied Reggie's move exactly, right down to the intensity of the flame, completing the Ember attack he didn't know how to do. Reggie was surprised, too, bracing himself for the flames that did little effective damage to him.

"How in the— I mean, Siggy! What was that?"

"It looked like a Copycat move."

That was the voice of Kelly, another trainer here at the Kalium Field Gym. I met her yesterday after I battled Cesar. She's pretty quiet and nondescript, but certainly nice enough. Brown hair and eyes, shorter than I by half a head, very quiet, but not the avoidant type like Fey was, and with a much darker complexion. She said the least of everyone yesterday, but Cesar didn't mind telling me that Kelly had only come to Kalium Town recently and decided to spend a little time at the Field Gym. She had no desire to earn a Potassium Badge, but she claimed Garfield was one of the best teachers in all of Perioble.

She may have been a little crazy.

"Copycat?" I repeated.

"Yes," Kelly answered. "Just like it sounds, the pokémon mimics the move used immediately before. Your foamert is very adaptable."

"Apparently it is," I agreed as I eyed the enigmatic pokémon. "Nice to see you again."

"You, too. I especially like the t-shirt." I had almost forgotten about the children's show advertised on my shirt. "Am I right to bet you were the one dragged out of the dorm quite noisily this morning?"

"How was I supposed to know Garfield was so stubborn? I tried going boneless in the hallway, but he just hoisted me over his shoulder and carried me outside. He's built like a tauros." Realizing that didn't really make up for it, I added, "Sorry about the noise. I hope you were able to get back to sleep."

The dorm, which I have opted not to describe to this point, was a type of boarding house Garfield owned and offered only to nomadic trainers who enrolled in the gym. A basic, two-story building, it had six rooms available. Besides Kelly and me, there were three other trainers currently enrolled in the gym and staying at the dorm. Garfield had no problem piling up charges on me, including the gym membership and rent, but I took the second option of not paying any of those fees and performing odd jobs around the gym instead. Based on Garfield's grin at the time, I fully expected to regret the decision. Maybe I should have just paid him cash right then.

"It was a good time to get up, anyway," she said, accepting my apology. "I took a shower, fed Kira, and went for a run before heading over here."

Kira is a more noticeable character, and only partly because she has nine tails. She's a giant, three-and-a-half-foot-tall fox pokémon that weighs almost nothing. If she spread her tails wide on a windy day, you'd have to tie a string around her to avoid losing her. If you think to describe her as "light" or "nimble," I might suggest using the word "spooky" instead. Her fur was some kind of silver-purple color, and her eyes burned fiery red. I got the willies just looking at her.

And Siggy was absolutely in love with her. Every time that ninetales sat down, Siggy would wander over to her and start nuzzling her side. I had no clue what the attraction was between my little slug and Kelly's big fox, but I tried to picture what their offspring might look like. The most likely result seemed to be a slimy, fur-less fox with a flowering head, but I suppose they could produce a giant slug with nine, bubbly tails and the ability to walk through walls. Imagine _that_ bringing you the paper in the morning.

"Hey, Kira," I said, trying not to ignore the ninetales and act like it was anything other than a purely sentient being capable of hearing my thoughts and eating my dreams. "Any chance you and Kelly might be interested in helping Reggie train a little?"

"Why Reggie?" Kelly asked. "I'm not declining, but Siggy's obviously in love with Kira."

"That's not really what I look for in a sparring partner," I replied.

She nodded right away. "Are you afraid Siggy won't do anything that might possibly harm Kira?" She narrowed her eyes at me like she was trying to divine some deeper meaning. "Or maybe, you're afraid that forcing him to battle her will cause some emotional scars."

I hadn't considered that possibility because it sounded like psychobabble to me. Guys don't worry about that stuff. "No. Mostly the 'don't hurt the ones you love' thing. Anyway, Kira seems like a good role model for Reggie."

Kelly smirked. "She's older and got more experience. What else?"

"They're both quadrupeds, for one thing," I pointed out. I thought that fact was obvious. What was Reggie going to learn from the biped pansear who spends all day eating bananas and fertilizing the soil? "That's really the big one. She can teach him a few tactics that bipeds don't or can't use."

"Reggie seems like a brawler to me. Kira's a finesse fighter. I got her from my brother, and his favorite approach was to inflict status ailments on the opponent. That way the opponent gets weakened and there's less risk to Kira in the battle."

"That's perfect! Show me something!"

She shrugged. "Okay. Let's have a little battle. Is that okay with you, Siggy?" My little foamert was reluctant to move away from his idol, but he allowed Kira to head into the battlefield with Reggie. I never thought I'd see such a lovesick pokémon, and so far-reaching across species. I don't even think they were in the same phylum.

"Are you ready?" Kelly asked me.

"Reggie sure is," I told her, watching Reggie's furry little butt rise into the air as he readied a pounce.

"Confuse Ray." Nothing happened as far as I could see. Kira poked her nose out and gave a voiceless howl that gave me the willies, but it was hardly an attack.

"Looks like it didn't work. Reggie, use Flame Charge." It was worth a shot. Reggie rushed forward and immediately tumbled over himself. Clearly, one of his legs didn't move when he wanted it to and he tripped over it. "Not this time, either, huh? How about a good, old-fashioned Ember attack?" Reggie inhaled deeply and hiccupped, ultimately causing him to spew a small stream of smoke and a hairball after a moment of hacking. "Eww. Now that was disgusting."

Kelly laughed at me. "You see? The fight's over and Kira hardly even has to participate."

"Man, Reggie. I can't believe you fell for that." Then it occurred to me: What _did_ happen? "How did that happen from a voiceless howl?"

"It's a ghost-type move," she explained. "Some pokémon can't do it imperceptibly like that, but Kira is as subtle as a pokémon can get." No kidding. I didn't see anything. Talk about a trump card!

"I like it. Show me more."

Kelly showed me a bunch of different status ailments to use in battle, most of which Reggie might never be capable of, but I did like the Will-o-wisp idea, burning the opponent so that the skin becomes extra sensitive and each successive attack deals even more damage. We spent all morning with Kira beating the crap out of Reggie as he learned a few new moves the hard way. Afterward, we headed out to get some lunch, with a little side trip to find a more appropriate shirt for my size, and happened upon Cesar at the diner next to the Pokémon Center. We grabbed a couple of sandwiches and plopped down on the porch table.

"This is a good place to go because the Pokémon Center is right there," Cesar told me. "Your pokémon gets tired of letting Kira kick its butt, you just pop over and let them heal your pokémon while you grab the best sandwich this side of the Cobalt Desert."

"I don't understand that as a compliment," I replied jokingly. "That suggests there is a _better_ sandwich on the _other_ side of the desert. Why take up residence in this town that only boasts the _second_ best sandwich?"

He just grinned at me. "What can I say? I love bananas."

"Fair enough. Hoping the next story is more exciting… How'd you end up here, Kelly?"

She was much more bashful. "Chance, really. I'm just a wanderer right now."

"Tell him about your brother," Cesar chimed in. As if telling the story for her, he turned to me and said, "Her brother went out to become this big shot trainer. He was really good, too, but he decided he couldn't stand spending so much time in small towns like this one when he could spend it in the hustle and bustle of Ferrum City. Luckily he had so much trouble letting go of Kira that he decided to let his baby sister take her instead."

"Not _baby_ sister," Kelly argued, red-faced as she did so. "He loved Kira a lot and didn't want to let her go, but he also couldn't take care of her anymore. He was way too busy." The look in her eye suggested major nostalgia.

"That's what convinced you to start training, wasn't it?"

She nodded. Obviously receiving that ninetales from her brother was as big an event for her life as it was for her brother's. Suddenly she leaned over the table and shouted in a whisper, "Kira!" Across the street from our table, Kira was busy digging in the dirt by the base of a tree that I was pretty sure was a giant banana during the festival. This time, it was just a regular ash.

Whatever was under there, Kira really didn't want to stop. "Haha," I mocked in a friendly way. "Your pokémon is making a mess."

Red-faced, she shifted the spotlight to me when she asked, "What's that pile of orange fur over there?"

Come to think of it, I had been able to go five minutes in a row without Reggie begging for a piece of my sandwich. He was right next to Kira, also just digging away. "Reggie!" On my word, he immediately stopped and bounded toward me like he thought maybe, this time, just once, I'd drop my sandwich for him. Kelly had to get up and walk over to Kira physically to make her stop digging. (There wasn't anything down there, anyway.) Kira wasn't so easily swayed by hopes of people food.

"That's the only problem she sometimes has," Cesar told me. "Her brother was a trainer a lot longer than her, so sometimes Kira doesn't listen because she's just got a lot more experience battling. But most of the time they get along fine."

"Why wouldn't she listen all the time?"

Cesar looked at me like I'd asked him what two plus two was. "If the pokémon knows more than you, it doesn't want to listen. Think of it this way: Would Garfield take orders from you?"

"Maybe if I peppered it with a few nicknames like Your Highness or Lord Temporal of Lore."

"Hey, guys?" Kelly called. She had withdrawn Kira into a pokéball and had her feet pointed toward the Pokémon Center. "I think Kira's feeling a bit ill, so I'm going to head over to the Center."

Images of Reggie flying through the air on fire crossed my mind. He did have a rough morning. "Good call," I decided and followed behind. But first, I took the remainder of my sandwich and stuffed it in my mouth. Cesar was right about one thing: It was a good sandwich.

The Pokémon Center was probably going to be a frequent spot for me as a trainer. I'd already visited three times since yesterday, and that was all before training directly with Garfield began. In fact, I was starting to memorize the nurse schedules. Katie, whom I'd met on my first trip to the building, worked a second-half shift—an eight-hour shift starting around lunch time.

"Hey, Gus!" she said and offered me and my cohort a big, pretty smile. Lunch was probably going to be my favorite time to visit. "I've got great news for you." She fished around on the desk for a moment before whipping a file folder at me. "Your application for sponsorship was accepted!"

"Sponsorship?" I repeated, somewhat confused at first. "Oh, right. The money thing. But who would…?" My voice trailed off as I read the acceptance letter, basically stating that my essay caught their attention and they wished to see what I could do as a trainer. It looked like a form letter for an organization, but I didn't recognize the name. "What's Team Omega?"

"Team Omega is sponsoring you?" Kelly asked, checking the paper.

"Congratulations, dude," Cesar told me and clapped me on the back. "That's awesome. Team Omega is like a scouting organization for trainers."

"You're close," Katie said. "Team Omega does recruit a lot of trainers, but their real claim to fame is technology. They're known for being an organized group of archaeologists, often finding and restoring technology from ancient civilizations. They're the ones who patented the technical machine system that a lot of people use to teach their pokémon new moves. Trainers help them advertise their product and test their new equipment, but they also get called on to help with excavation of new sites."

"Really?" I asked. "How can pokémon trainers be helpful to archaeologists?"

"Pokémon can be a lot more controlled and gentle in their movements than people generally are. They can dig up an entire collection of fossils, for example, in only a few weeks without damaging the bones when completing the same task might take people months or even years. Something about your application really caught their eye." She winked at me. "I think you're going to be a pretty special trainer one day."

I smiled back at her and accepted my good fortune on the surface, but it just seemed odd to me. After getting kicked out of my home for being cursed, and then the old man threw me out and the gym leader here decided to treat me like a dog, suddenly someone who never even met me had faith in my future?

Team Omega. I'd love to meet the man who made that decision.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks to <strong>RavenSong314<strong> for contributing Kelly Rhodes to help Gus's early development. He'll spend two weeks in the gym learning how to battle like a real trainer. We'll skip the narrative of all that time because I don't want to bore you with the daily minutia when I could do it with a story on a grander scale. I can't skip _every_ detail, though (wink)._

_**Trivia:** pauldog = pauldron (a component of plate armor) + dog (a quadruped with a long tongue and an overactive salivary gland)_  
><em>Foamert is a little bit like a ditto in design, but foamier and without the shape-changing ability.<em>


	13. Fake Out

Fake Out

If there's one upside about time spent in intensive training when you don't have a clue what you're doing, it's that things get easier. Garfield was running out of dog names to call me, Reggie and Siggy were both getting stronger, and I used some of Team Omega's sponsorship money to buy two extra outfits for whenever I fall in muddy water again. Actually, my first expense with my new credit line was a pair of running shoes. They looked really cool until I realized they didn't come with a pair of pants. I really needed more than one pair for a journey.

On my third day at the gym, Kelly and I were scrimmaging Reggie against Kira when suddenly I got that ringing sensation in my head that accompanied Garfield whistling at insane volumes. He used only his lips, but I heard him all the way across the gym the same as if he were standing directly beside me.

"Newbie! Heel!"

I rolled my eyes and looked to Kelly. "I'm being beckoned. Thanks for looking after Reggie for me!" I pulled Siggy into his pokéball—much to his chagrin, considering his infatuation with Kira—and hurried off to see what Garfield wanted from me this time.

"I never said I'd watch him," Kelly commented as I jogged away from her.

"Thanks!"

Garfield stood there with his arms folded, a scowl on his face, and a white coat on his back. "Time to earn your keep, Undourdog," he told me. "A challenger has arrived. Before he can battle with me, he has to get through you. That means it's your job to make sure I don't waste my time with some half-assed trainer who thinks battling is just 'the cool thing to do.' Do you think you can handle that, Sparky?"

I'm not sure I understood. My expression was probably blank when I asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Annoyed, he grunted and turned away from me. His coat was long, drawing past his knees, but it had no sleeves. It just looked like a backward apron until he turned around and I saw a foreign character written on the back: It translated to FIELD. As he walked into the stairwell and made his way to the roof, I realized what he was asking of me. Another trainer came to the gym, but this one didn't want to study: He wanted a Potassium Badge.

The guy was pretty unassuming. His name was Dino. He was only as tall as my shoulders, and his hair was showing signs of gray. I'll bet he was at least twice my age. He seemed friendly enough, though he wasn't talkative, generally avoiding small talk—even my "Welcome to the Field of Dreams" speech. It was strictly business with him.

"You go first?"

I supposed that wasn't too much to ask. I tossed out my pokéball and watched the red energy take the form of a foaming slug. That phenomenon was never going to seem normal to me.

Dino summoned a five-foot-tall unicorn, which was cool even before its mane and hooves burst into flame. According to my pokédex, it was a rapidash, a fire horse pokémon that loves to race and run as fast as it can. In other words, we were going to see whether the speed of a horse could be matched by the… well, by whatever trait makes a slug a good fighter.

"Fire Spin!" Dino shouted to his rapidash. The unicorn reared and whinnied loudly, and then it ran circles around Siggy so quickly I scarcely saw more than a white blur and a trail of flame. I couldn't even see Siggy to tell how he was holding up. Poor guy was a normal type being swarmed by fire.

Then again, he just mimicked a fire attack the previous day. How long was his memory for attacks? "Siggy! Try a Bubble attack!" Nothing changed, so I thought maybe Siggy couldn't remember being in the spring three days earlier. But then I saw the fountain of bubbles billowing from inside the fiery cyclone and realized: "The rapidash is just stronger." Siggy's bubbles weren't able to overcome the Fire Spin. It gave me an idea, though.

"Use Rollout!" This time, Siggy's effort was more obvious. The foaming slug barreled out of the cyclone.

And talk about accuracy! Despite the rapidash's speed, Siggy slammed right into it, tripping it up and causing the fire horse to take a tumble to the ground. It looked like Siggy was repeating his airborne Body Slam move, except on the ground while kicking up rocks and dirt. So maybe not the same, but seriously: Do foamerts get dizzy? He just kept rolling through the grass and plowed into the fallen rapidash a second time, hitting it in the belly and rolling over the top. I felt sorry for the horse, which really seemed to struggle getting back up as Siggy hit it yet again, this time in the haunches.

"Enough," Dino said as he recalled the rapidash into its pokéball.

"I won?"

"Not yet," the guy said as he pulled a second pokéball from his pocket. I guess I almost forgot that battles aren't always one-on-one.

I anticipated his next pokémon so much that I didn't recognize Siggy's odd movements until he rolled directly into me. Needless to say, that was the slimiest tackle I'd ever experienced. At least Garfield's monkeys kept the grass incredibly lush. It cushioned my fall tremendously as I fell to the ground.

"Aagh! Siggy!"

I sat up and got a look at my foamert. Something was happening to him. He was drooping a bit and foaming as much as a gallon of soap under a waterfall. "Siggy?"

Dino chuckled at me. "You've never seen this before? It's evolving."

"Evolving?" I was taught that evolution took thousands of years to affect an entire population—not thirty seconds to affect one pokémon. Siggy's body flashed as he began to grow rapidly. His little one-foot body began to thicken and grow as it shaped into a little, three-foot mound of bubbles. His body stopped shimmering, and even though the foam was still prominent, I could see his body was shaped more like a stubby human's than like a slug's.

"What happened?" I asked my pokédex.

_028-Golfoam_

_Foaming Pokémon_

_[Normal]_

_Average Height: 3'2"_

_Average Weight: 62.4 lb._

_It is capable of becoming invisible in watery environments and is the only known user of the Foamy Punch technique._

"It looks like your pokémon evolved," Dino explained to me. "Not surprising, considering how much more experienced my rapidash was. Is this the first time you've seen a pokémon evolve?"

"There's not a lot of battling going on where I'm from."

I kinda got the impression from watching Siggy evolve directly, but Kelly was happy to explain pokémon evolution to me after Dino's electric flying squirrel zapped Siggy out of the fight.

After she laughed at my amusing ignorance, she said, "Your foamert just changed into a completely different creature. Perhaps the word _metamorphosis_ would be more accurate than _evolution_. Technically, this kind of evolution is different from scientific evolution, but some of the very first trainers confused the terms, and tradition being what it is, the word _evolution_ is still used to describe the change from one stage of development to another. There's still a lot of debate among researchers as to the actual mechanism of metamorphosis, too. Professor Birch says—"

It made me sorry I ever accused Kelly of being a quiet girl. Apparently all I had to do was ask her to say something smart.

That event got me thinking about Lykos—how that little canisouse pup had turned into a man-sized delycan. One possibility was that a canisouse was a smarter creature, faster to develop. One possibility was that Brooke was simply a better trainer than I would ever be. But the possibility I focused on after Siggy evolved was that a simbder was on par with a canisouse, and Reggie just needed more focus to catch up to Lykos.

It wasn't as easy as I hoped.

Part of my training was watching the challengers visiting the gym, even when I wasn't the one selected to fend them off. Garfield only ever requested one person to keep the challengers away per challenge, and there were six of us training under him. That gave me plenty of opportunities to watch other people battle.

Cesar got a real workout against one guy who stuck out in my mind. His name was Yorick, and he was only a year older than I. He wore a gray beanie and a heavy black jacket, both of which he'd regret an hour or so later when the sun came out and the temperature skyrocketed.

His fashion sense and apparent hypothalamus damage weren't what made him stand out, though. Cesar put up a narrow loss with his stantler against Yorick's yakoni, which was a pokémon I'd only seen in storybooks and in my nightmares when the Elder used to tell me what happens to kids who don't eat their peas. Yakoni is a species of imp, not big enough to be an effective tackler but perfectly big enough to scare the bejesus out of me and to take down Cesar's stantler in a narrow win after a hard-fought battle.

The yakoni was interesting, but it also wasn't what I remembered most about him. What caught me the most about Yorick was how casual he was about losing. A lot of young trainers lost to Garfield and threw hissy fits, but even those who lost gracefully were generally disappointed. Yorick was strictly casual, almost like he expected to lose. After seeing that, I couldn't help eavesdropping on their conversation.

He didn't ask for training tips or battling advice. He asked about something completely different.

"You want to know about legendary pokémon?" Garfield asked. He had that tone that suggested he was going to call Yorick a dog's name and slap him around a little. "All I can tell you is everyone has ancient stories about their development. This region's got at least a dozen of them."

"I understand," Yorick said. "What about this area? Do the people in this town cling to legends?"

"Here's what I can tell you. People in this area didn't always appreciate pokémon. Many of them still don't. Pokémon can be your best friend or they can destroy you. Destroy enough, and people hunt them down. Whether you believe some pokémon to be cursed, dangerous, abusive, or just plain evil, there is reason to fear any untrained pokémon. Why do you think pokéballs and technical machines were invented in this region? They are crutches used to control dangerous creatures."

Yorick was taken aback by the intensity of Garfield's spiel. "That's not much to go on. Have you seen any of these legendary, dangerous pokémon?"

"Never. As far as I know, they no longer exist. Legends die. Even if they didn't, guardian gods are supposedly in place to protect us from such creatures. But I never put much stock in religion. I just do my part to ensure no one here need fear wild pokémon, no matter what happens outside this town."

Even Yorick could tell Garfield had some information, but he wasn't willing to talk. In the face of such obstinacy, people have a few choices for reaction. Personally, I would have tried poking some psychological ploy in hopes of annoying him into talking to shut me up. It may also annoy him into hitting me, but you risk big to win big.

Yorick opted for a more direct route: "I've heard vague legends of a ghost in these parts. Can you point me in the right direction?"

"No," the gym leader replied, shaking his head emphatically. "The only time I've ever seen ghosts was in the desert and only because I was dehydrated. But if you want to keep following silly superstitions, by all means, feel free to talk to anyone who isn't me." That pretty much drove the point home with the visiting challenger.

As Yorick walked out and Garfield came back to the stairs, I remember asking him, "Did you really see ghosts in the desert?"

"Yes," he told me, sounding completely sincere. "They looked exactly like my parents. They told me they regretted having me because they knew that, statistically speaking, I'd one day have to suffer through some idiot asking me about seeing ghosts, and they never wished to inflict that kind of irritation on me."

I nodded. "Sorry about your parents."

"Get inside and do ten laps! I expect you to beat that foaming midget this time."

For the record, Siggy had never beaten me in a foot race, even since he got feet. Garfield was just insulting me.

But I couldn't help wondering why he mentioned protecting Kalium from wild pokémon, "no matter what happens outside this town." I had forgotten to that point, but the Elder said something about docile pokémon becoming aggressive since the seal on Clendine was broken. Though she was no ghost, she was definitely in a whole other class of pokémon.

Anyway, I was starting to notice Armageddon hadn't occurred yet, so maybe Clendine wasn't the harbinger of evil the Elder made her out to be. Thinking about Clendine and the Elder reminded me about Brooke, and how much stronger she was than I. That gave me a little motivation to double my efforts for the next few days. Even if he didn't beat down every challenger who came by, I couldn't deny there was a lot to learn from Garfield.

I had to deal with a lot of cynicism, though, and more dogs' names than I could come up with on my own. I got in the habit of responding by ignoring his rudeness and continuing the conversation as if nothing ever happened. It was the same strategy I used with Brooke. Neither of them was good at hiding frustration, which was kinda fun for me.

Until one day he stepped into the training field wearing his FIELD coat. He took one quick look at the six of us trainers completing the tag team exercise he prescribed and whistled loudly enough to disrupt all of our pokémon mid-attack.

"Gidget! Roof!"

There was a ten-year-old girl among us trainers. She looked incredibly nervous as she took a step toward the stairwell. I stopped her and said, "I think _I'm_ Gidget." Poor little Gidget forgot that Garfield never calls anyone by their real names, but she was relieved not to have to meet with Garfield by herself. I could understand the sentiment.

The field on the roof was wilder that day than usual. I didn't know if the simians had the day off or what, but the grass came up past my waist, and it was much coarser than usual, almost like it was intended to feel like being in the jungle. The only freedom I got from the itching was the open circle mowed as a place for trainers to stand.

Standing on the opposite end of the field from me, Garfield opened a pokéball and loosed his teddiursa into the tall grass. The breeze blew the grass such that I may not have been able to see his bear cub except for the moon emblem on its forehead, which almost seemed to shine in the sunlight.

"Alright there, Rookie. Defend yourself."

To say I was caught off guard would be somewhat accurate. Garfield pretty much only came to the roof to battle, but he'd never battled any of us gym trainers directly. We only got to watch him battle the challengers who wanted badges. This was going to be interesting. Unlike the gym challengers who come in largely blind to Garfield's strategy, I'd seen him battle dozens of times and knew what he could do.

Then again, he'd also seen me battle the other gym trainers as I tried to turn Reggie and Siggy into respectable battlers. Any move I make, he might already see it coming. I could see this as the biggest test of my training.

"Let's go, Siggy!" I opened the pokéball of my foaming pokémon, ready to go after days of training him in his new form. "Lead off with a good Foamy Punch." With all the foam coming off his body, it looked like Siggy was flowing across the field as he moved through the grass.

"Wait here and hone your claws, Barrette," Garfield spoke, his arms folded over his chest. He looked almost uninterested in the battle, but his teddiursa merely flexed her claws and sharpened them along one another. They looked really dangerous, but Siggy was very bendy. He could probably avoid an attack.

When Siggy was only a meter away, Garfield declared, "Bulldoze him." The moon crest atop the teddiursa's head began charging through the grass straight toward my golfoam. But the grass stopped parting with a rising column of bubbles. All I saw was a collision in the middle of the field, but I think what happened was Siggy recognized Barrette's approach and stopped the Bulldoze with a Foamy Punch to the head.

"I didn't know your golfoam had gotten so physically strong," Garfield told me.

"I make him practice his Foamy Punch on tree trunks."

He narrowed his eyes as if realizing that's why his simian brothers had been so irritable lately. "You realize what I've done by getting you to talk to me?"

"You've taken my eyes off the battle field," I answered for him. He expressed surprise that I saw through his strategy. "Siggy, use Copycat." A cloud of dust burst from the field as Siggy rolled the bulk of his body into his shoulder and powered his little feet as fast as they could possibly go. Even though Garfield called for a Scratch counterattack, the lack of movement in the grass after the collision suggested the fight was over. The way the grass spread, however, was wider on Garfield's side.

"Eyes off the battle field? Really. It's not like I can see him anyway in grass that high."

Garfield nodded and recalled Barrette into her pokéball. I did the same with Siggy. According to the blinking of the pokéball sensor, Siggy was in good shape. I was pleased with how well the foaming dwarf fought. But now it was time for the next round.

"It's time for Round 2," Garfield said. He opened his second pokéball and released a pokémon I had seen only since the previous day when I checked my pokédex. His armored dog pokémon had evolved into a steel gargoyle, and the scientists were really thinking outside the box when they named its species steelgoyle. It was still less than four feet tall, but now it weighed four hundred pounds. Its armor-like skin turned dark green, and its tiny wings grew until they looked like steel scythes, matching the dual horns popping out of its forehead. The truly creepy thing about it was its ability to stand perfectly still like it wasn't even alive.

"Your fire-type against mine," I decided, opening my other pokéball. "Come on out, Reggie."

When the energy from the pokéball finished taking shape, it was bigger than the last time I wrote about Reggie. Late in my first week at the gym, Reggie evolved from a simbder to a conflacat. Here's the rundown my pokédex offered me:

_002-Conflacat_

_Lion Pokémon_

_[Fire]_

_Average Height: 6'1"_

_Average Weight: 301.4 lb._

_The second largest species of cat pokémon, it is known in the wild for its tendency to begin wild fires and then consume them to boost its own strength._

Reggie had grown so he was longer now than I was tall. His body and limbs were still lean and thin, but he moved like liquid muscle. His back arched high around his shoulders, and he had fiery red hair growing wildly from his head to his tail, which was also growing long and thick. It was no longer particularly fun to get him excited and try to tackle him, because now he could tackle back. That's how I found out the nurses at the Pokémon Center are also trained in human first aid.

A born predator, Reggie could see the gargoyle all the way through the grass field, and the sight of an opponent caused him to roar proudly—a loud, hearty roar deep enough to frighten any man.

But not a motionless gargoyle. Blaze, as Garfield named him, continued to sit there in a squat position as another breeze blew by. With its black, hollow eyes, I couldn't even be sure it could see. Maybe it fought by smell or sound. Fortunately, Reggie was very light-footed and didn't make a lot of noise moving through the grass. When he stalked his prey, you'd never know he was targeting you until he got you.

"Let's start with a Flame Wheel."

Reggie took off skulking through the grass, circling around to the side of the steelgoyle, building up internal steam as he moved. When he found the position he liked, he spat his fire back onto himself and charged as a flaming lion. Every step he took burned a path through the grass, making it pretty clear where he was. I finally learned the true name of the flaming tackle Reggie showed me before, and so now he could do it on command.

The steelgoyle waited patiently until the last second. Garfield merely whispered his command, supporting my theory that Blaze responded primarily to sound. When Reggie was only inches away, the hollow eyes in the steelgoyle's head lit up bright yellow and its gray wings encased it like a cocoon. When Reggie collided with it, the steelgoyle's defense appeared to reflect the power right back at him. It was a Mirror Coat move, dealing the brunt of the collision to Reggie, but Blaze didn't escape unscathed.

Garfield began whispering the next command. My ears weren't good enough to hear it, but I could see his lips move. "Air Slash," I'm pretty sure he said. It fit when Blaze flexed his wings. Air Slash was a sharp attack that could pierce Reggie's skin pretty viciously. And his skin didn't have the natural hardness Blaze's did. Coupled with a steelgoyle's fire-typing, Reggie's normal attacks weren't going to be terribly effective. Plus, he needed to hide.

"Reggie! Dig!"

A habit he picked up from Kelly's ninetales, Reggie loved digging, and he was really fast. Almost the instant he bent down and began shoving the dirt around, he created a hole big enough for him to move through and burrowed inside. The blades of wind tore up the field overhead, but Reggie was safely tucked away.

Blaze's biggest weakness was its tendency not to move much. Reggie burst out of the ground right near the steelgoyle's feet, causing the ground beneath it to collapse and suck in the steel, fire type. A ground-type attack was a steelgoyle's ultimate bane. Old Man Max would be proud of me for my studies.

"You win," Garfield decided as he pulled his mangled steelgoyle back into its pokéball.

"Wait. That's it?" I asked him.

"What did you expect? A song and dance routine?"

"No. It just occurs to me that you're going easy on me."

"Am I?"

"Yes. You go easy on all the trainers you battle." Kelly was the one who explained it to me. The reason we got so much business at this particular gym is that it was widely considered the starting point for any young trainer's journey along the gym circuit. Because of that, Garfield was always catching new pokémon and training them young so that he'd never completely overpower new trainers.

"What do you suggest?"

I grinned at him. "I want to see what you've _really_ got to offer me in a battle. What do you say to that?"

Garfield glared at me like I'd called his mother a pansear. "You really think you can handle it?"

I smiled back. "I have honestly no idea, but I want to try."

He pulled out a blue pokéball and held it up for me to see for a moment. "I will allow you to face off against one of my experienced battlers, but you must use a potion on each of your pokémon before their fights begin." To enforce the request, he threw me two potions. While I sprayed one on Reggie's wounds, he opened the blue pokéball and summoned a leafeon to the field—a green-skinned foxlike pokémon so much smaller than Reggie, but with a gleam in her eye that suggested a lifetime of experience.

"This is going to be fun," I told Reggie. "We're going to assume from the start that anything we do can be readily countered, even though it's a grass type. Alright, buddy?" I scratched him on the head and then smacked him on the haunches to urge him into the field. He suffered a little bit of singed fur from the previous fight, but he was going to be fine for now.

"Are you ready over there?" I asked Garfield.

He apparently didn't care. Or maybe he fell asleep standing up with his eyes open. Either way, he didn't answer, so I used the leafeon's body language as a cue that she was ready to go.

"Mow it all down, Reggie." Aware of my surroundings, I declared, "Use Ember!" I hoped Garfield remembered his deodorant today. Reggie took one deep breath and set the grass on fire. The fire spread rapidly, scorching the entire field and only offering respite to the two areas carved out for the trainers to stand. I may not have been licked by the flames, but I still started sweating buckets, and I wished I put on sunscreen.

The fire didn't continue uncontrolled, though. When the whole field was ablaze, Reggie sucked all the fire back inside, leaving only the scorched dirt behind… and a still surprisingly energetic grass pokémon. It was like the fire didn't even faze her. No, more like she endured the fire despite the burning flames on the tip of her tail.

"Get her again with Ember!"

Reggie spewed a bigger fireball than I'd ever seen from him—the result of feasting on a field-length wildfire. It was much too big and wide for the leafeon to avoid it, even with her nimble body. In fact, the fire accidentally sprayed right at Garfield, who was fortunate enough to predict my miscalculation and dive out of the way. The flames chewed on the end of his coat, and he grudgingly stamped them out.

"Oops."

"Solarbeam," was his only reply. The sea of flame parted instantly as a beam the color and intensity of sunlight blasted across the field and slammed into Reggie dead-on. Normally I may assume a grass-type attack was relatively harmless against Reggie's fiery skin, and maybe I'd be right, but Reggie was not in a good way after suffering that blow. I was afraid even to touch him, he looked in so much pain.

"Sorry, buddy. That was a really good effort, though. Lots of power." I recalled him into his pokéball and tucked it away in my pocket.

I pulled my second pokéball and said, "Alright, Siggy. Let's finish her!" My golfoam was raring to go. He raised his small arms and appeared to strike a pose as he looked out at his opponent… his foxlike opponent. "Oh, come on! Not another crush!" Something about foxes really got his engine revving, but I convinced him to show off by being stronger. Unfortunately, I noticed while applying the potion that Barrette's scratch attack did land after all and leave some pretty ugly cuts on Siggy's shoulder. A fight with a well-trained leafeon was not going to last long.

"Alright there, Livia," Garfield said. "What say we finish this with a Leaf Blade?" That didn't sound good. The leafeon charged while its tail straightened and appeared to sharpen, despite the flames still flickering along the tip.

Good idea. "Siggy, use Ember."

A golfoam had a pretty decent memory for moves it copied. It only lasted a few days, but I had just trained Reggie and Siggy together that morning, so Ember was fresh in his mind. A spray of fire spouted from my pokémon's mouth, less intense than Reggie's last strike but still what you'd want to see when facing a grass type. Livia the leafeon plowed through the fire yet again in order to slash Siggy with her tail.

"Foamy Punch!" I shouted.

It was weaker than normal. Livia's tail struck Siggy right across the torso, but Siggy was already mid-swing, and his momentum brought his foaming fist into Livia's midsection. Livia hit the dirt and the flickering flame on her tail died out. Siggy swooned momentarily and then toppled over backward.

Garfield and I both recalled our pokémon and met in the center of the roof. There, I got to ask him the one question that was burning me up during that entire practice battle:

"How thick is this roof? Reggie dug a tunnel in the dirt and didn't fall to the ground floor. Were you drinking when you designed this gym?"

He ignored me and held out his open hand. In it was a small badge: a red circle with four circles around it, each dotted with additional nodes. The outside circle had only a single node at the top. "Here. A Potassium Badge."

"What? Why?"

"Because there's nothing more for me to teach you here. It's time for you to go."

* * *

><p><em>Thanks to <strong>RavenSong314<strong> for contributing Kelly to the story, and to **Dodgerjoey** for Yorick. It will be fun to see how each character plays into the greater story. For next time, Gus is on his way out of the Kalium Field Gym after making an odd request to the gym leader. And before he leaves town, he runs into someone familiar._

_**Trivia:** Conflacat = conflagration + cat_  
><em>Originally the name was based on the word <em>holocaust_, but the name _holocat_ sounded like slang for a hologram. I was also slightly bothered by possible emotional responses to the word._  
><em>Golfoam = I couldn't come up with anything better and it's already been done a few times.<em>


	14. Brine

Brine

"I don't want it."

"Come again?"

I don't know if there's some sacred attachment gym leaders have to their badges, or if turning one down is like turning down a gift from the queen, but Garfield pretty much burned a hole right through my face when I told him I didn't want the Potassium Badge he was offering. I really hoped he wasn't going to punch me.

"Let me rephrase that: I don't deserve it."

He blinked hard as if I were actually a figment of his imagination, and then he shook his head rapidly as if shaking more blood to his eyes. I was still in front of him. "Oh. You _are_ real." Seriously, he said, "Your pokémon defeated mine in a battle."

"They defeated your _young_ pokémon," I corrected him.

"And one of my veterans."

"That was more of a tie, and it was two-on-one."

"It's more than any of these other challengers do. You met the same standard they are required to meet."

I sighed. "Yeah, but it just feels inaccurate. That badge represents defeating the Kalium Gym Leader. If I don't beat you at full strength, then I didn't really defeat you."

"This badge represents the first stage of your development through the pokémon gym circuit," Garfield explained the spirit of gym battling. "It is not meant to represent your undeniable superiority with pokémon training. Do you really question my judgment in this matter?"

"No. You've got great taste in trainers," I said. That ultimately quashed any theory of my modesty. "I just don't want to feel like I'm getting a gift here."

He closed his hand and pulled the badge away from me. He folded his arms across his chest, reminding me how much bigger he was than I. "What do you propose?"

"You can put that in a box for me. I'll come back as soon as I think I'm able to defeat your whole team. Your _real_ team. When I can do that, then I'll accept that badge."

Garfield just shook his head at me. "I'm not reserving anything for you. You missed your chance to keep this badge." He walked past me to the stairwell, stopping only long enough to say, "Maybe I'll accept a rematch someday, but never again expect me to pull any punches."

I know the whole point of my proud speech was that I didn't want him to pull his punches, but the intensity with which that man could make a threat still made me think I would have been smarter to take the badge now. Could anyone actually beat Garfield in a battle if he used his strongest team? Had anyone ever tried?

I mean, that leafeon knocked out Reggie and Siggy even though she was a grass type suffering fire attacks the whole time. What was I thinking?

Too late for that. Besides; it was just my nerves getting to me. I already had to tell this to myself once before: _You don't have to have your rematch tomorrow. Just focus on today and take life one step at a time._ Who knows how different I'll be by the time I come back here. Maybe I'll have a Mohawk, or an awesome perm.

Garfield already disappeared by the time I got to the gym floor and said my goodbyes to Kelly and the other trainers. None got as emotional as maybe I expected, but I understood why: Trainers don't attend a gym indefinitely; they attend until they learn enough to take a badge from the gym leader. That's why everyone expected me to leave before long. With Reggie evolved and Siggy in his ultimate form, I was ready to take the next step in the gym circuit.

"Kira's going to miss Siggy," Kelly told me. The ninetales watched me with those ghostly eyes of hers the entire time we spoke. She seemed to understand what we were saying, but I doubted she was really bothered by Siggy's disappearance. Siggy, on the other hand, was not going to be happy about not seeing Kira anymore… at least until the next foxy pokémon came along.

"I'd offer Siggy a goodbye, but he's really hurt right now, and it'll probably be easier for him not to. He'll be okay."

"How about a gift?" Kelly offered. She handed me a small disc with writing in the kind of font type that's almost impossible to read. My advantage was the right-handed neighbor kid in Natrium who insisted on writing all his school papers with his left hand. He used to ask me to proofread for him.

The disc read, "22. Solarbeam."

"A technical machine?" I'd seen them before, but I never used one. It was intended to teach new moves to my pokémon by synchronizing with the electromagnetic energy inside the pokéballs, essentially saving the days or weeks it might take to teach a new move from scratch.

"It's something Garfield leaves behind for trainers who manage to win a battle against him. This one's yours."

"Really?" It was a simple gift—expensive, perhaps—but it seemed the same as offering me the entire world, considering who it came from. "I thought he didn't like me."

"Well, maybe you're right," Kelly replied. "This gift had less to do with liking you and more to do with honoring your victory. Just remember to use it sometime." She poked me in the shoulder with her elbow. "And hey. Maybe we'll run into each other again sometime."

"Of course." I'd be back someday. I was reasonably sure of that.

It didn't take long to pack my stuff from the dorm. Even though I got comfortable staying there for so long, I always kept the reminder in the back of my head that I would be leaving soon. I stuffed my clothes in my backpack and put my remaining pokéballs in the sack I got from Old Man Max. I'd need to get a few more potions from the pokémon center before I left. I had to stop by there to heal Reggie and Siggy, anyway. The pokémon center looked like it always did, and I was even starting to appreciate the entrance tone. I was going to miss this place.

Maybe not the building so much…

Katie smiled at me as I entered. Her shift at the pokémon center hadn't started just yet, but she was already there getting ready and discussing the hand-off with the morning nurse. There was a guy standing at the counter and a couple of kids off to the side looking at merchandise while their teenage chaperone stared at her phone.

She held up one finger to the other nurse and then step to the counter as I approached. "Hey there, Gus. How are you today?"

"Spectacular," I answered. "Garfield just told me there was nothing more for him to teach someone with my training skills. I'm thinking I might take my act on the road. See the world. That kind of thing."

"Congratulations! That sounds exciting. So you finally got the Potassium Badge?"

I stopped mid-self-aggrandizement. Somehow I wasn't prepared for that question. "Well, I told him I didn't want it yet. He's always coming down to the level of a beginner to battle. When my pokémon are ready to battle his best, then I'll take it."

The eavesdropper at the counter chimed in with, "That sounds a little dumb."

"If you're looking for your beeswax," I told the guy, "you'll find that I didn't take any of it over here." Looking back to Katie, I added, "But for the record, yes, I am a bit of an idiot."

"A proud idiot," she said with a big grin. She looked to the guy at the counter and said, "Phil, this is the trainer I mentioned. The one with the penchant for storytelling."

"And this must be your older brother," I said, to which Katie replied with a coy shaking of her head. "Second cousin? Younger brother who's really tall?"

"That's funny, dude," the Phil guy said. He was okay-looking, I suppose, if you're the type who goes for smooth skin, average looks, some muscle tone, and a bit of the artsy look with rimless glasses. I know maybe this was a silly crush on a girl a few years older than I, but it still sucked to find out Katie had a boyfriend. Too bad. Just as well, though, considering I was leaving town for a while.

"I make a decent joke every now and then. I'm just here to get Reggie and Siggy some treatment and pick up a few extra potions for the trip. Maybe some of those orange potions this time. Reggie really took a shine to those."

Katie nodded as she took my two pokéballs and placed them in the rejuvenator. "Five super potions coming up."

While she retrieved the supplies, her Phil asked me, "Congrats on beating the gym leader. I hear he's a tough nut. So what's next for you?"

I didn't really want to talk to this guy. He ruined my day by reminding me that not all beautiful girls spend the day thinking about me. But it didn't take too much of my patience to say simply, "What does every other trainer do? I guess I head to the next gym."

"You know what you should do?" Katie suggested as she handed me the super potions. "You should go to Cuprum Town and visit the Team Omega building. You know, meet some of the people sponsoring you."

I hadn't thought about that. Team Omega had only been like a filling wallet to me so far. They deposited money into my account based on my battling experience. Maybe she was right, though, and there really was something to learn by going to meet them directly. "Yeah, maybe I will. Thanks for the suggestion." I dropped Reggie and Siggy's pokéballs into my sack and was ready to go.

So long, Katie. Perhaps fate will bring us together another time.

I stepped out of the pokémon center and breathed in heavily, taking in every last whiff of bananas that pervaded this town's walkways. I took in all the sights one last time: the pokémon center logo, the kids playing tag, the misspelled sign outside the emergency room… All things I had come to appreciate through familiarity.

One thing different, though. A crowd of people gathered around the riverside, looking down into the ravine. Why? The banana festival was over, and there were no encores scheduled to my knowledge. I caught little snatches of conversation as I approached, most notably:

"He just captured that pokémon with his bare hands."

Bare hands? I'd heard that was possible, sure, but who…?

_Him!_

Pulling himself from the river like he was trying to climb out of a pool was a guy I'd seen once before. His yellow hair was plastered against his face and his armored clothes were soaking wet, but he looked pretty much the same as the last time I saw him. An alakazam knelt on the shore beside him, possibly weakened by a fight. Mindlessly, I found myself charging down into the ravine to confront him despite the crowd's objections regarding my safety.

By the time the guy got out of the water and lay on the sediment, staring up into the sky, I was squared off behind him. I had so many questions coursing through my head I could hardly parse them, let alone figure out which to start with. One thought bled directly into another. But they all seemed to boil down to one question:

"Who are you?"

The guy turned over with a start, but he settled when he saw me—an unintimidating figure barely five-and-a-half feet tall. His wet scarf was tight around his neck, no longer covering his face from my view. That made it easy to see how blue his eyes were. "Do I know you?"

"No. Who are you?" I didn't realize I was so angry until I lost feeling in my hand from clenching a fist too tightly. I wondered if he could see my emotions. He didn't seem to recognize me after only sixteen days.

"My name is Burton. You…" He climbed to his feet, slowly and with a lot of apparent pain. "You look vaguely familiar."

"You do much spelunking?" I asked him pointedly. "Maybe in the Natrium area?"

He tilted his head at me, and then suddenly his eyes lit up with recognition. "You were at the waterfall."

"Burton isn't the right name for you," I grumbled. Both my hands went numb and my knuckles were white enough to light up the shore. "For one who awoke a monster, who unleashed a curse on a small village… who got me kicked out of my home! You caused the man who raised me to look at me with hatred. You caused everyone I grew up with to turn their backs on me. You made my sister cry! You are the source of all my strife!"

The guy ran his fingers through his hair to get it out of his eyes. "You were exiled?" He sighed heavily. Whatever he was doing in the water, he looked ready to keel over at any moment. "I don't suppose an apology will do much for you."

It should have been good enough, but I couldn't swallow my anger. This man was the single reason for the people of Natrium Village to give in to their superstitions and kick me out of town. I was blinded by that fact. But I was just a kid, and this guy was wearing actual pieces of armor along his arms and chest. Punching him was only going to hurt me.

"Reggie!" I whipped a pokéball from my pouch and opened it in a single motion, and my fiery lion burst onto the shore. Burton and his alakazam both looked surprised by Reggie's appearance, and maybe even a little intimidated. I wasn't even gratified by that; I just wanted to fight.

The alakazam reached for his master, but Burton shook his head. "I'm too weak to teleport now. Can you still fight?" The pokémon nodded once. "Okay. If that will make him feel better, we'll give him a fight."

The pokémon was shorter than I and weighed about a third of what Reggie weighed, but I knew size was only a small part of a pokémon's battle strength. My pokédex suggested the alakazam had immense psychic power and was smarter than any supercomputer. That would have been nice to have for all that math homework my schoolteacher used to give me. But even a supercomputer melted with enough heat.

"Reggie! Use Flame Wheel!" A very excited cat, Reggie spewed a small cloud of fire, running through it and igniting his whole body as he charged straight through the alakazam. Moving with all his speed, he left a trail of flame burning along the shoreline.

At the very last second, the alakazam did something. Its eyes shone with a pinkish tint, and suddenly Reggie veered slightly off course—just enough to miss his target. But even though he missed, my conflacat continued barreling forward and almost collided with Burton directly. The guy had to strain his tired muscles to roll aside and avoid being hit.

"That kid is serious about this," he grumbled to himself. To his alakazam, he said, "Don't hold back."

"Bite him, Reggie!" I learned a thousand strategies from Garfield and the other trainers. One thing almost basic is that any pokémon capable of wielding that much special power is likely to have low physical defense to compensate.

With a perfect pounce, Reggie hurled all his weight at the opponent, baring his saber-sized teeth. But one little twitch of the alakazam's fingers blocked Reggie's jaws from closing and separated his bulk from his target, frozen in the air for just a moment as if he were plastered on an invisible window. It was disorienting for me to watch; I could only imagine how Reggie felt experiencing it. A second twitch from the alakazam's fingers sent Reggie flying through the air.

_Not_ his fingers… The spoon! That spoon the alakazam held twitched during every attack, bending at the neck the same way as the attack. I figured it was either the source of the pokémon's power, or it was an amplifier. Whichever the truth, I just needed to get the spoon away in order to have a chance.

"Reggie! Use Ember! Everything you've got!" My conflacat looked heavily shaken by that last attack, but he got to his feet and sucked in all the air he could take. All those stamina exercises culminated in a fire so big and so raw that the alakazam had to create some kind of telekinetic box to contain Reggie's attack and spray it back into the air. He couldn't risk letting it go or else it might consume him and Burton.

The perfect opportunity to remove his power source. "Quick Attack! Spoon!" Despite the powerful Psychic attack he suffered, Reggie found the energy I needed and powered it into his legs. After the second he propelled himself forward, Reggie was only an orange blur to my eyes. I could see the surprise in the alakazam's eyes when Reggie's feet hit the ground gently and a spoon shimmered between his teeth.

It turns out the spoon was neither the alakazam's power source nor an amplifier. It was a focal point to help wield all that power. When Reggie took the focal point away, the alakazam lost control of himself. His psychic, 5000-IQ, supercomputer brain probably began running at full power and he wasn't sure how to stop it. The fire he had contained suddenly erupted all the way from the ground straight up. The clouds darkened and I saw a single bolt of lightning jump across the sky. I felt like a curtain fell down on my shoulders, and Burton seemed to suffer the same way. Was that how it felt to be struck by unwieldy psychic power?

Reggie lunged through the air to Bite the opponent, but the psychic blast prevented him from getting even close. The alakazam turned to Reggie, his eyes ablaze with psychic energy. Reggie wasn't suited to this fight. Recalling him to the pokéball took longer than usual fighting against the sheer power in the air, but I wasn't going to let something like a super-powerful alakazam stop me from wreaking vengeance on the guy who got me exiled.

Siggy was better at adapting in battle.

Burton looked surprised by the arrival of my new pokémon. "A golfoam?" Was he worried that Siggy was perfectly suited to defeating his alakazam? Or maybe he was surprised that I had a second powerful pokémon ready for battle.

All I could do was cross my fingers and think repeatedly, _Don't fall in love. Don't fall in love._

"Finish him quickly," Burton told his pokémon, but I'm not sure his voice got through. If I had to guess, the alakazam's headache was compounded by the size of the crowd gathered at the bridge. A psychic pokémon with no way to temper its abilities must have a hard time parsing all the internal voices it hears. I knew it couldn't hear Burton's voice because instead of attacking Siggy, the alakazam seemed to explode with psychic power, spreading an unrelenting force in all directions. Burton hit the ground hard, but I had the good sense to take a dive and hug the grass.

"Copycat," I told Siggy. As soon as the power hit him and popped the superficial layer of foam protecting him, he managed to produce a replicated force, identical in nature but minor in volume, by comparison. It was enough to attract the alakazam's attention, though. His pink eyes glared at the new challenger, and a ball of black energy began to build in his palm. It started as a small swirl, but it grew quickly into a rotating mass the size of a pokéball. Whatever it was, it looked supremely dangerous.

Without my command, Siggy began to copy the same type of shadow energy, perhaps even going so far as to draw straight from the alakazam's energy in order to mimic it. The ball he created was smaller, but he was amazingly adept with it. It was every bit as compact and intense as the opponent's. But would it measure up?

The alakazam thrust his arm forward and blasted the Shadow Ball at Siggy like cannon fire. In kind, Siggy fired his Shadow Ball. The two blasts shot past one another in the air as they collided with their targets. All of the rotating energy the alakazam put into that attack slammed into my golfoam and completely dissipated without even popping his bubbles.

That was anti-climactic. I wasn't sure what happened there.

But the other collision was much more intense. Siggy's attack slammed into the alakazam and I felt a powerful vacuum effect, almost like the ball forced the absorption of the alakazam's psychic energy back in through his chest. The weight on my back lifted tremendously, and the alakazam appeared to be experiencing intense pain.

"Foamy Punch!" I shouted. Siggy shuffled quickly across the field and slammed his fist in the alakazam's mustachioed face. The psychic energy in the air disappeared completely as the wounded pokémon passed out.

Burton was frustrated as he recalled his pokémon. He couldn't believe his pokémon lost to mine, and he hesitated before summoning another. He got a few minutes to think about it while I debated having Siggy beat him up for me. I wasn't sure a guy my size could even wound a guy his size much less beat him up.

"My pokémon are too weak from the hunt," he muttered. Whatever that meant. He squeezed a black-and-blue pokéball in his hand for a moment and then pressed the release button.

Thunder snapped across the sky and rain began to pour before the electromagnetic energy even took shape. I could see it was going to be huge. The rain became torrential, pelting me like a thousand falling rocks.

The first time I saw this creature, I caught only a glimpse of its tail as it brushed past me and swam off into the ocean. That tail, covered with violet scales that shimmered in the rain and fins protruding from all sides, made up two-thirds of the pokémon's body. Her torso looked somewhat human in shape—blue skin with lavender scales covering her belly and chest, golden eyes that looked right through me, and a single shell tiara holding her emerald hair out of her face. Even with her tail coiled behind her, the pokémon towered above me. I felt like I was staring into the face of an actual sea god. I was too intimidated even to remember activating my pokédex.

_367-Clendine_

_Undine Pokémon_

_[Water] [Psychic]_

_Average Height: 12'4"_

_Average Weight: 435.4 lb._

_This pokémon's power is so great it created 1,000 new species of sea life 1,000 years ago during the Machine War. It was sealed away with one of the earliest known pokéballs._

My mouth went dry as I stared agape. "Clendine… The undine guardian."

I couldn't tell what that look was in her golden eyes. She seemed surprisingly calm—the effect of Burton's pokéball, for sure—but she was eager to get back in the water. Clendine slithered into the river with a heavy splash and swam deep. I lost sight of her with the heavy rain, but she came right back, bringing with her a tidal wave of surf and brine that swallowed me whole and dragged me under water without any resistance.

The last thing I remembered was being battered on all sides simultaneously and then being shoved straight down to the bottom of the river.

* * *

><p><em>Once more, thanks to <strong>RavenSong314<strong> for contributing Kelly to this story. She's been a fun and mysterious addition to the story.  
>Next time, we get to find out whether Gus drowns or not.<br>_

_**Trivia:** This chapter's title came from the song_ Oh, My Darling Clementine. _Clendine's name did _not_ come from the same song._


	15. Sand Tomb

Sand Tomb

"That's my…!" Simply uttering those words aloud jarred me awake. My eyes popped open and I jolted a bit. "My pizza." I gripped the back of my neck tightly. I didn't usually sleep on my stomach and that gave me a wicked crick in the neck. My feet were cold and the sand made my face itch terribly.

Sand? Where was I?

I sat up, and as far as I could see, everything was sand. Dunes on either side of me created a nice little valley straight up the middle, not offering a lot of choice in terms of directions. How did I get there?

_Probably from the water,_ I thought to myself as I turned around and figured out why my feet were cold. Everything from the knees down dangled in the ocean, which lapped up on the beach beneath me. Putting two and two together as quickly as I could in that state, I figured I must have washed up in that spot after my confrontation with the legendary mermaid pokémon Clendine.

Oh, yeah. There was _that guy_ with her, too. Brutus or some nonsense name, right? Punk actually attacked me with a legendary pokémon, and totally unprovoked, too! What a jerk! He'd better hope I never see him again.

"First things first, I guess," I uttered. That's when I realized how dry my throat was, and how much pain I was in because of it. How long had I been here lying in the sun? As I stared at the water, I faced a biological quandary. If I didn't get something to drink soon, I was going to die. On the other hand, salt water was not exactly appetizing, nor was it healthy. I seem to recall pretty intense diarrhea last time I tried it. Brooke didn't get to spend her routine eighty minutes in the bathroom thanks to that experiment. But what other option did I have right then?

Since my pants were already soaked and my face was covered with sand, I decided stepping out into the water wouldn't hurt my day much more than it already was. I noticed I still had my backpack strapped to my back and my supply sack tied to my waist. Lucky turn of events for me. Even thought my stuff was wet, I still had a change of clothes and some canned food supplies to keep me alive. I dropped both bags on the dry beach and proceeded to wade waist-high into the water. I knew it would be terrible for me but it sure looked inviting. I reached my hands out and prepared to cup a handful of water.

Suddenly my reflection in the surface changed drastically. I yelped and took a tumble backward as I saw a green face staring up at me. The face didn't move, either. It looked like some kind of fish—a really weird-looking one, like out of a horror movie I saw as a kid: puffy lips only slightly lighter in shade than the green scales that covered its face, and two bubble-like blue eyes popping out of the front of its face. It poked its head out of the water to get a better look at me. It had gills on its cheeks that extended and contracted repeatedly, constantly making its face look bigger and then smaller and then bigger and then smaller and then…

"I'm thirsty," I told the fish as I stood up again and pushed my way deeper into the water. I cupped the water in my hand and lowered my face when the fish suddenly whipped its tail and splashed me. I spilled the water in my hands and wondered if I could fashion hardened sand into a harpoon. I retrieved another handful of water and the fish splashed me again. I think it was laughing at me.

As I moved for a third try, the fish began spraying me in the face—more like spitting a solid stream at me. "That's real mature."

Suddenly the fish revealed to me that it had hands. It raised its hands to me as if offering me a prize. The only thing in its hands was a puddle of water. With how thirsty I was, I figured, "What's the worst that can happen?" I mean, really? It's salt water, fish already poop in it… As long as I didn't dwell on its scaly, webbed fingers, taking water from that fish man was no worse than drinking it straight from the source. At least this way the fish didn't splash me.

When I sipped the water, it was the sweetest-tasting water I ever tried. Granted I was so parched I probably would have said the same thing if I tried drinking krabby juice. But it didn't taste salty at all. How odd. Apparently my taste buds were affected by my dehydration. If I were really in shape that bad, I was probably going to die within an hour or so. When the fish man offered me its hands again, I sucked up the water so quickly I chocked on it. After a round of hacking, the fish slapped me in the back with its tail, shoving me straight into the water and possibly breaking my back.

The fish man's tail, by the way, was hefty like a rock and spiraled out to a point at the end like a conch shell. When it slapped me, I stopped choking because I vomited the water, my tongue, and at least one whole lung. I'm pretty sure that's not an exaggeration. People can survive with just one lung, right?

Going more slowly this time, I drank four more handfuls of water the fish man offered me. None was as sweet as that first drink, but all were very welcome given the heat from the midday sun. I think it was midday, anyway. Every time I tried to look up, I got a sudden hit of vertigo and lost track of how close to "straight above me" the sun was located. It was definitely close.

I dunked my head again for relief and then looked around. The steep dunes behind me didn't seem too inviting, but the water seemed pretty treacherous outside this tiny cove, and I wasn't all that interested in taking another violent swim. The cove was at the mouth of a small river digging into the desert. If I didn't trust the ocean to secure my safety, I was going to have to try my luck in the desert. Thinking ahead, I used a Super Potion on Reggie's pokéball and proceeded to let the fish-man fill up the bottle with water for me. Ready to go, I turned from the water, slipped my bag and sack on again, and wiped a spray of water off the back of my head.

"What the…?" That fish creature sprayed me. It was sticking its head out of the water and tilting its head at me. That was a pretty universal sign of curiosity, and I probably tilted my head at the fish man's odd behavior. I turned again, and this time it made a weird squealing noise before it sprayed me again. Now it was reaching out of the water like it was trying to pull itself up.

"What? What's going on?" The creature sputtered and dipped back in the water before shooting another spray at me: This one I dodged. "I don't understand the pppppt!" I said as I sputtered in imitation. "Do you want to come with me?" It nodded, which prompted me to say, "It's a little creepy how well you understood that. I guess I can…" I checked my sack and retrieved one of the empty pokéballs. I held it up for the fish man to see and asked, "Do you know what this is?" It didn't respond to that question; it just continued trying to pull itself out of the water. I tossed the pokéball at it and noted, "Well, I guess we're going to test how well willpower plays into the capture process."

The pokéball hit the fish man and tagged it, transforming the pokémon into electromagnetic energy and drawing it inside the ball. The capture seal began flashing as the pokéball rattled around and rolled over. It got wedged in the sand and stopped rolling… and stopped shaking after another moment. Without even trying, I just caught my third pokémon. Maybe more like it followed me, I guess. In a way, it made being suddenly stranded in the desert worthwhile.

I poked my finger to my temple a couple of times, listening for the hollow knocking sound. "Did I really just say being stranded in the desert wasn't so bad? I need to get out of the sun." At least with a bellyful of desalinated water, I might be safe from the heat for an hour or so.

I couldn't believe how quickly the sands changed from a gradual walk along the beach to a challenging vertical climb up steep sand dunes. If it weren't bad enough that the sand was practically melting the soles of my shoes with temperatures of a hundred and fifty degrees, the sand was soft and slid around easily, making it very difficult for me to balance upright. Ever go walking along a field and step into a divot and hurt your knee? Well, when that field is a stretch of desert and you hit a divot, it grows into a pitfall and sucks in your whole leg unless you're lucky enough to climb out of it.

And the air temperature was horrible! Sweat poured off my body like I was made of water. I tried to drink from the bottle slowly because I knew my body could only process water so quickly. Of course, the worst part of the desert wasn't the temperature of the air or the sand or my nose but the low humidity. All those buckets I was sweating weren't making me wet because it all evaporated fresh off my skin, and there was little hope of rainfall anytime soon. I did occasionally duck aside to the river to dunk my head and wet my clothes to keep me safer, but the dunes were steep and often ran alongside the river like wall, keeping me following the direction of the river more than following the river itself. I strained my ankle trying to walk along the steep dune and crawling sent me tumbling down into the sand, giving me sand in places I'd rather not share.

I'd be hard-pressed to name any time in my life I was more miserable. There was a time when the Natrium Widow visited: She was a cheek-pincher and gushed over how cute Brooke and I were together. And dinner that night was three courses of bruised cheeks and mental scar tissue. Tough choice.

After I covered what felt like fifteen kilometers of ground—closer to eight hundred meters in the real world—the wind kicked up. Bear in mind, when I say "the wind kicked up," I don't mean "a gentle breeze brushed my cheek carrying with it the scent of pine and simpler times." I mean an entire sandstorm washed over me like a tidal wave. I hit the deck just to keep the sand out of my eyes and nose. Lucky for me it was a fleeting storm, but it was still no fun at all. I took a shirt out of my bag and wrapped it around my head in case that happened again.

As I wiped the sweat from my brow for the hundredth time, I started to think that I should find a comfortable dune and sit down for a little while.

"Sitting in the sun? I can't think of a faster way to die out in the desert."

I wasn't surprised to hear such an opinion out loud, but I was surprised who it came from. Reggie stalked beside me through the sands. I didn't remember letting him out of his pokéball, but there he was, walking beside me, his nose a dulling gray. I must have imagined the part where he was talking.

He turned his face directly toward me and opened his mouth. "A perfectly logical conclusion based on your current knowledge of the world."

I winced and shook it off immediately. "The sun must be affecting me already. That's definitely not real."

Reggie almost seemed to smile at me when he said, "You know very little about the pokémon world. On what basis do you declare me to be unreal?"

"For starters, you sound exactly like me, but with a little gravel in your voice like if I had a cold and a lot of phlegm buildup. Besides that, one of the side effects of extended sun exposure is delirium. I've obviously been walking for too long in the sun. Basic survival training says to rest during the day and travel at night."

"Rest in the shade," Reggie clarified for me. He pawed at the sand underfoot. "Why haven't you asked me to Dig a little bunker for you? It would provide a convenient place to wait in shade until the sun sets."

"I thought about that, but the problem with that suggestion is that sand moves. Did you feel either of the sandstorms that hit me? If I were to doze off in a little sand bunker and another sand storm blows by, I could very well end up buried alive. On top of that, what, exactly, would I do inside a sand bunker? Sleep? Read my pokédex? And for another eight hours?"

He looked off in the distance to my right. "I don't see any shade anywhere, do you?"

I sighed. "No."

"Then it sounds like resting here and now would be a quick way to die."

"Thanks for the advice," I said, fighting my way through another pitfall and starting up another dune. "Do you have anything helpful to add, like how far we are from civilization?"

He darted ahead and stopped suddenly, looking all three directions ahead of us. "How's this: We're going to die here." It was almost amusing how straight he said that. No fear or anxiety at all.

"Cheery. How do you figure?"

He motioned off to my left with his increasingly dry nose. "The river dies out right here."

Sure enough, when I climbed over the dune, I got a view of the river off to my left—a good view of where it petered out to a sickly little crack in the sand. "Your 'follow the river' theory was a good one. That's just bad luck," Reggie offered as solace.

"As long as it was smart, I can die happy," I said sarcastically.

"Don't get mad at me. I don't want to be here, either. The sun is drying my nose. It's as bad as being sunburned."

"And there's still no shade in sight," I pointed out. I couldn't believe the desert was so very, very flat. No rocks or boulders or tunnels or Acme magnets or even cacti. Nowhere at all to find any shade. It frustrated me so much I started stomping through the sand in the direction the river was pointing.

Reggie stopped and watched the sand to my left. "Did you see something shiny?"

"Is my attention span really that sho~rt!"

Before I could finish the sentence, I stepped into a really big sand pit. Well, it felt like a sand pit at first, but then it became a massive sand slide like at a really painful, miserable amusement park. I'm not sure exactly where I ended up, but I landed on top of a pile of sand with a heavy stream of sand continuing to pile on top of me from above. It took all my strength to roll over and remove myself from the spill before I was crushed to death.

When I felt myself on a solid floor with minimal sand dust falling on me and the sun not bearing straight down on top of me, I couldn't help lying there and closing my eyes for a moment.

"Ow."

My head was throbbing too hard and I had too much sand in my ears for me to get comfortable. I pushed myself up and cleaned myself off, pouring sand out of my ear like I was a sugar bowl… that someone put sand inside of. I coughed out my last cloud of sand dust and drank the last of my water. It was still pretty hot in here, but at least the sun was blocked.

And that brought up a good point: Where was I? The room was surprisingly well lit even after the sand filled in the hole overhead, yet still dark enough to make all the walls look identical. It looked like I was in some kind of underground temple, or maybe a tomb, given my luck.

"Not my tomb," I said to no one.

The walls were cinderblock—meticulously placed and very intentional. This was definitely not an accidental underground cave. The walls were dry and musty and covered with sand, will wonders never cease. I was in some kind of hall with fairly open floor space and a passageway off on the far end. There were two raised torch pits a few feet apart from the walls. I hit one of them when I fell in; the other one wasn't nearly so full of sand. Overall, the room was shaped like a funnel with the passageway suggesting the only way out.

Or, you might also see it like a scepter with a jewel on top. What jewel, you might ask? Whatever was on the other side of that door.

Directly opposite the passageway was a massive door unlike any I'd ever seen. Almost ceiling-to-floor, the door was as heavy as a mountain, or one of those unshakable trees that grow along the borders of some towns. I saw no keyhole in the door, but I did see a massive grid with dozens of holes and many fewer pegs. After losing count and starting over twice, I came up with 110 holes and only twenty-six pegs. If those pegs acted as keys when placed in the correct holes, then the possibility of guessing the proper location was infinitesimal. I moved a few pegs around haphazardly. Every placement preceded a heavy _click-snap_ sound as if a complex lock mechanism were at work behind the door.

What was on the other side of that door? What was so important it was worth the world's heaviest lock?

I sighed deeply and felt the exhaustion wash over me. It was hot and sticky down here, but it felt like a refrigerator compared with being in direct sunlight. I thought about using the sand covered torch pit as a pillow, but it was probably very hot from being in the sun. I did find a quarter on the floor, though. It was clean and shiny and protected by a plastic case. That must've been the shiny object Reggie saw.

Where was Reggie, anyway? Maybe getting out of the sun finally released me from that hallucination. I sat down and leaned against the clean torch post and placed my backpack behind my head as a support pillow.

"Suppose I relax for just a moment while I consider how to open that door."

* * *

><p><em>Any guesses what's behind the door?<br>Next week, Gus will finally make it to Ferrum City, the Iron Oasis. There he'll get to meet a law enforcement officer on the hunt, a doctor who uses pokémon abilities to cure sickness, and a trainer who thinks Gus may have found something important under the sand._

_**Trivia:** Reggie's appearance in this chapter is a hallucination. It was a more interesting way to have Gus talk to himself as he struggled through the heat._


	16. Heal Bell

Heal Bell

I woke up in a hospital bed thinking: What in the world just happened? I remembered falling into a buried temple in the desert, which explained the bandages on my back and leg, and I remembered a very big door with a very complex lock, and I remembered resting my eyes, but I didn't remember getting here.

"Are we awake?" I looked for the author of that question. It came from a tall, rangy man of maybe forty years, wearing a charcoal suit and a ten-gallon cowboy hat. He was clean-shaven with long, dark-haired sideburns. When he walked across the room toward me, he hunched a little bit to make up for the fact that he could reach the sky if he got a good stretch.

"That depends," I replied. "Are we wearing a cowboy hat?"

The man smirked. "Yes, we are."

"Then we're awake. But we're very puzzled." I tried to think over what happened after I lay down in that sand temple, but I couldn't remember doing anything except falling asleep. "How did I get here?"

"Well, I found you out in the desert."

"Where, specifically? I was in some kind of temple under the sand."

"Not when I found you," the man replied. He spoke plainly without much inflection in his voice like there was nothing in his world to speak except truth. "You were lying out in the middle of the sand, maybe three clicks from town."

"Three clicks," I repeated. "Is that close?"

"Closer than any temples. Looked like you'd been wandering for a while and passed out to heat exhaustion. Doctors said you had a bad case of sunstroke and some sunburn. Big surprise, but you'll be fine with some time in the shade. What were you doing out there?"

I sat up and examined myself while he spoke. My skin was an unusually dark shade of red. "I feel like we may have skipped over an important part of the conversation. Who are you?"

"My name is Ray. I'm with the Perioble Marshals Service." He produced a badge that proved his association with the regional law enforcement agency. Even in a small place like Natrium, I learned a little about the Marshals. They reported to the Elite Four and acted to enforce laws, provide protection for important people, and hunt down missing criminals.

"A marshal? What were you doing out in the desert?"

"Following a lead on a fugitive."

"Really? There's a criminal near here?"

"There's criminals everywhere. Difference is whether they been convicted yet."

"That's a pretty cynical worldview."

"Or a realistic one. So back to my question. How'd you end up wandering the desert alone?"

I wasn't really sure how to answer that question, or how far back to begin. Should I start with the part where I was exiled from my home village or should I skip ahead to the part where a legendary mermaid swept me into the sea with my golfoam? I simply explained that I was in a pokémon battle with a guy who used a powerful water-type. "He failed to realize that such oceanic chaos so close to a riverbank could sweep me out to sea."

"Sounds like a pretty reckless friend. I hope you plan to hit him when you get back."

I didn't hide my emotions very well when I laughed wickedly and said, "Oho, I do!" I calmed when I saw the look Ray gave me and said, "I mean, I plan to let him know exactly how that made me feel."

"He deserves it. What happened when you found yourself in the desert?" He was good at staying on topic.

I was not. A table at the end of my bed finally caught my eye. My backpack, my supply sack, and all of my pokéballs rested on top. "I'm sorry," I told Ray, "but do you mind if I check on my pokémon real quick? They were in pretty bad shape last time I saw them." He didn't suspect me of any foul play, and so he didn't mind letting me open the units to let my animal friends wander around the room.

Reggie looked perfectly healthy and very pleased to see me. He hopped right up on the hospital bed and nearly crushed my leg when he stepped on me. He might have done so if I hadn't pushed him off the bed, which unfortunately made him curious about Ray. He sniffed the marshal starting with the feet and rising to his hands. Ray didn't wince or recoil at all, which I would have understood given Reggie was the size of a motorcycle. Ray was perfectly comfortable around the conflacat.

The second pokéball opened and took the shape of a child-sized fish-man. Its tail was conical, starting with a short spike and ending with a flawless transition to a scaly torso. Its arms were the size you'd expect from a young boy, and its face looked a bit like a gas mask, but with actual eyes and a large mouth showing three rows of teeth. I never did figure out what it was called, did I?

In hindsight that struck me as soon as I opened my third pokéball, I was shocked to see Siggy emerge, and unharmed. "Hey, Siggy," I said cautiously trying to piece together how I retained my pokémon after being carried off my feet by Clendine. "How did you get here? I don't recall recalling you."

"What's the problem?" Ray asked me.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just counting my blessings, I guess." I could think of at least two recent miracles to happen to me, both involving Clendine. "Good to see these guys looking so healthy. I guess one of the doctors or nurses here took them to a Pokémon Center for me."

"I took them," Ray admitted. "I needed to stretch my legs and I didn't want to risk anyone else running off with your pokémon, so I took 'em myself. I also dried that out for you." He picked up my pokédex and handed it to me. I turned it on and was surprised to see it actually working. I would have figured that much water exposure would have destroyed it.

I asked him, "Did you put it in rice overnight?"

With a hidden grin pulling at the corner of his mouth, he said, "You know that trick?"

"Of course. Dry rice absorbs moisture. I've done it dozens of times when I dropped the Elder's… I learned that trick early in life." I pointed the pokédex at the fish man and asked, "What are you, anyway?"

_054-Mergeant_

_Lagoon Pokémon_

_[Water]_

_Average Height: 6'3"_

_Average Weight: 249.4 lb._

_From birth, it seeks to leave the ocean. It retains great amounts of energy as it nears its next evolution._

"Wants to leave the ocean, huh?" I watched the creature as it turned its head every direction, taking in the sights of this drab hospital room. "No wonder it followed me like that."

"They can be clingy when they find someone they like," Ray agreed. He picked up the fourth pokéball and tossed it to me. "Aren't you going to check on him?"

"Check on who?" I asked and looked up just in time to catch the pokéball he tossed. "This one's empty."

He shook his head. It was such a subtle motion I might've missed it. "Check the seal. That one's occupied."

"Can't be," I argued. Sure enough, the seal was active. "I had two empty pokéballs."

"I didn't find any empties on you. Maybe you captured that during your short blackout period. Sunstroke as bad as yours can cause memory problems sometimes."

_What is this?_ I wondered as I ran my fingers along the pokéball. It was an awful precedent for me to forget capturing a pokémon. I know the sun beat me up pretty badly, but I felt absolutely certain that I passed out inside an underground building, and I'd made no movements since then. The very existence of this pokémon threatened my sanity.

Ray must've understood the look on my face because he said, "You're not crazy. Sunstroke causes hallucinations and even memory loss. You really don't remember catching a sigilyph?"

"A sigilyph?" Suddenly my curiosity overruled my mental resistance and I popped the pokéball open. I had read about sigilyph before, but I'd never seen one personally. It was a round pokémon about four-and-a-half feet high with a protrusion on top holding in place a single eye. Two more eyes on its round body spun around as if examining the room. Two thin wings popped out of its shoulders and matched the multiple colors of its featherless tail. Two hands stuck out of its sides.

"It's a good-looking creature there," Ray said regarding the sigilyph. "You really don't remember catching it?"

"Not even a little bit," I answered. I knew little about sigilyph, but I could tell by looking that this one was different from my other pokémon. The way my head tingled a bit when we made eye contact, maybe this one was psychic. I could use a psychic type on my team. That would go nicely in contest with Burton's alakazam.

Ray sighed and Reggie lost interest in him, choosing instead to brush past my bed and search the windowsill, which was way too small for him to stand on. Siggy positioned himself right beside my bed and seemed to stand there like a small statue. Ray continued his previous line of questioning with: "Why don't you just tell me everything you can remember from the time you ended up in the desert."

"Well, I captured the Creature from the Black Lagoon over there, I got caught in a sand pit, and I fell into an underground temple. That's pretty much everything I remember. There is nothing else."

"There are no temples in this desert."

"Maybe it was a bunker. I don't know. Whatever it was, it was underground, presumably enormous, and it had this one huge door with a locking mechanism that involves pegs and peg holes and more than a million possible combinations."

Ray inhaled through the nose and sneered a bit. "When people get sunstroke as bad as you got, they tend to see things. I had a friend who swore he was delivering messages between two sesame seeds that were in love but couldn't move on their own."

"He never thought to carry one of them next to the other?"

He stopped and made a face like he had that same idea. "No, he never did. But my point is: There aren't any known structures out in the desert. Only Ferrum City, the Iron Oasis."

"I made it to Ferrum City?" I repeated. "Sweet! I always wanted to go there."

"Mission accomplished." He sighed again. "Let's get to the point, Gus. Any chance the man who swept you into the sea was actually a woman? She's about five-six, one-twenty, fifteen years old, auburn hair with a few highlights, green eyes. Kind of a reckless girl, sometimes accompanied by two rather inept men who couldn't tie their own shoes with Velcro. Ring any bells?"

"Uh, nope. Definitely a guy with a bad attitude." Curious, I asked, "What'd she do?"

"I can't tell you that."

"It must be pretty bad to get the Marshals after her."

He simply nodded and tipped his hat forward. "Thank you for your cooperation. Do get some rest." He turned away, but then he stopped and knocked lightly on the table where my backpack waited for me. The pokémon all looked up at him to see why he was knocking. "You've got a healthy team here. You should consider collecting some gym badges."

I just chuckled. "Yeah. Maybe I will."

Ray walked out of the room and a nurse stopped in real quick to check on me. She said the doctor wanted to keep me overnight to recover lost fluids and heal some of my sunburned skin. Apparently they had a chimeco that would be in the room for a minute every two hours to administer a psychic treatment. Back in Natrium, we used old-fashioned doctors. Apparently in the desert, they just use pokémon. Couldn't be any worse than the EMERGE CY ROOM in Kalium Town.

Somehow the door to my room was actually a revolving door and I couldn't see it. As soon as the nurse left, another guy walked in carrying a pineapple in his hands. He had steely gray eyes and wore a gray beanie that spread his dark blond hair across his face. The look on his face was that of a secret agent sharing information he knew he shouldn't. He looked back over his shoulder once before entering the room and then once again after he approached me.

Oddly enough, he looked familiar.

"Hey," he said in a form of whispering-while-trying-not-to-sound-creepy. It didn't work. "Rumor has it you found a temple out in the desert?"

"Maybe," I replied, wary of the visitor. "Who are you?"

"Oh, sorry." He extended his hand and smiled, but he still refused to speak up. "I'm Yorick. Nice to meet you, Gus."

"Are you sure?" I asked him. "If you just met me, how did you know my name?"

"I heard the nurse call you that. I'll admit you look a little familiar, though. Have I seen you around the city somewhere?"

"I just got here, and I was unconscious the whole time so far."

"Right. So that's probably not it. Maybe I've seen you somewhere else. I've been traveling a lot lately."

Finally I placed the beanie. I didn't recognize him without the heavy jacket. "You were at the Kalium Gym. You were the one asking Garfield if he'd seen any ghosts."

"Actually, I asked him if he knew anything about a _legendary _ghost pokémon," he corrected me, not even caring about the connection between us. "He mentioned the desert, which led me here, to Ferrum City. I've been here for a week asking around about legends and rumors and reading the history of this city in the library. This particular city was founded a long time ago simply because a bunch of desert dwellers realized living near water made agriculture much easier."

"That completely explains why you invaded my hospital room with a pineapple."

Yorick made a face. "No, it doesn't."

"That's a good point," I agreed sardonically.

I don't think he quite understood my tone. He just said "Yeah, so I think you may have found what I've been looking for" like he never got sidetracked in the first place. I was so focused on following his train of thought I nearly missed what he said.

"Wait, what?"

"What what?"

"I found what you're looking for?"

"Yeah." He looked at me like I should already know what he was talking about, and I looked back like I wasn't psychic. "The underground temple that supposedly doesn't exist? I think that's the legendary Moon Temple where Resowisp is hidden away. Do you think you could find it again?"

"Hold on," I said more harshly than I intended to. But in my defense, my personal history vindicated me for what I was about to say. "If this Resowisp is some legendary pokémon sealed away for the purpose of maintaining order in the pokémon ecosystem, then you are a huge idiot for wanting to go in there."

He put on a pensive look as he folded his arms across his chest, then he stumbled when Reggie sniffed his knee and pushed into him. My conflacat wasn't being antisocial; he was just looking for something to rub up against. I dropped my hand to the side of the bed and Reggie immediately moved closer so I could rub his face and scratch between his ears.

"I've never heard anything about Resowisp affecting the ecosystem," Yorick claimed. "The worst I've heard is that she gives people nightmares so she can feed off of them."

"That doesn't really sound any better," I pointed out. "Why go looking for a nightmare-inducing pokémon after someone went through the effort of sealing—her?—up and losing the directions to her home?"

"Ghosts fascinate me," he replied with a dreamy, passionate look on his face. "They have such power in the supernatural realm. They tend to exist on a spiritual plane, completely untouchable by physical matter, yet they can also choose to exist purely physically so they can interact with all things the way we do. This legendary pokémon is supposed to be the quintessential dichotomy of spiritual and physical nature—a creature of steel defense that can become a shadow at will."

"That sounded…" I started, unsure how sappy to be. "…really cheesy. Are you some kind of science nerd?"

"Aspiring engineer."

"So that's a 'yes'?"

Yorick chuckled. "I'm not interested in capturing Resowisp. I just want a chance to study it. I don't even need you to do all that with me. If you can help me locate that temple you found, that'll be good enough for me. I can even pay you for it."

The guy couldn't be a year older than I, and he was practically begging for my help to go somewhere that was so forbidden from visitation that it was literally lost to the sands of time. What was I supposed to say?

* * *

><p>Thanks again go to <strong>Dodgerjoey<strong> for submitting Yorick to this story. What will Gus and Yorick find out there, and will it give them nightmares?

**Trivia:** The hallucination about two sesame seeds in love was inspired by a short sequence in the old SNES game EarthBound. That was my first RPG, and I still love that game.


	17. Trick Room

Trick Room

Lunch was no contest. There was a little sandwich shack on the boardwalk run by a guy called "Ferrum Guts" Kelly. Supposedly he got the name because he had a will of iron and wasn't afraid to police his stretch of property single-handedly regardless of the number and size of whatever ruffians were causing trouble. Personally, I think he got the name because his signature ingredient—Salamander Spice—was so spicy it would tear straight through your intestines if you didn't have iron guts. I felt like I might have to head right back to the hospital after lunch.

Kelly ran his shop with impeccable precision and obstinate sequence. He had a specific way he liked to do things and a specific order in which he prepared the few sandwiches he had on his menu. Actually the word "menu" doesn't work well because that suggests the customer has a choice. Ferrum Guts Kelly cycled through his sandwiches in order of his favorites depending on his mood. Whoever the paying customer was at the time got whatever he prepared. One might've suspected that would hurt business a bit, but the shop always had a steady stream of customers with equally iron guts. It turns out Cesar was right on the money: The sandwiches on the other side of the desert were the best sandwiches in the region.

Ferrum City was called the Iron Oasis for a reason: Not only was the city huge and home to a host of factories, but the giant natural pool in the middle of all of it gave the populace a distinct beach mentality. People wandered around stores wearing swimsuits and no one even flinched. The most common mode of transportation seemed to be bicycles with skateboards a close second. Long hair and tans adorned pretty much everyone I saw. It seemed like no one had a care in the world as long as they had swimming and sun.

After sharing the best lunch of my life with all my pokémon and finding out which ones could handle spicy foods the best, I headed over to the pokémon center to give them a chance to recover. At first, the nurse behind the reception desk looked just like Katie from Kalium Town, but then I realized she was clearly someone different. Maybe if I were looking at her from the ceiling, she could be Katie's twin. Fiona was a little older but still quite cute. Her hair was strawberry blonde and her eyes were bright blue. She was really smart, too, and just as brash. According to Fiona, I was going to end up killing my mergeant if I kept feeding him Salamander Spice or if I let him spend so much time out of water. Apparently most water pokémon can do okay on land for a little while, but they still need moisture on their gills in order to breathe. That makes four biological facts I learned from almost killing animals by accident.

The city's gym was right across the street from the pokémon center. I really wanted to go in and check the place out. The diagram had four circles on it with several nodes drawn on—the earliest historical symbol of the Iron Oasis. It looked a lot like the Potassium Badge that Garfield had offered me. After I questioned a dozen beach-goers, one of them finally explained to me that the gym was among the very first structures when the city was founded, but it wasn't sanctioned anymore because of some sad story about people not taking their training seriously. Apparently the beach mentality consumed a lot of people—so much that the original gym leader left for another town where he might have a greater impact on the lives of real pokémon trainers. The new guy who took over was less intense, but he was still rumored to be the best in the city. He'd probably have something new for me to learn, even if he didn't have a Pokémon League badge to offer afterward.

"Gus?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?" Yorick asked me.

Suddenly I remembered where I was. Ferrum City was far behind me on the horizon. If I looked back, it was barely a black spot on an endless expanse of desert sand.

"You're not suffering sunstroke again already, are you? I told you to be liberal with the sunscreen."

"No," I sighed. "I was just thinking about what I'd rather be doing than wandering through the desert again."

"You're not exactly _wandering_ this time. You actually have a goal this time and some idea how to get there."

"Not really, though. It's just guess work." I took another look at the map Yorick used to guide us. He pulled it up as an electronic application on his pokégear. It used a global positioning system to tell us exactly where we were in the middle of that giant yellow expanse. He also drew an electronic marker over the approximate area where I guessed I found the temple. The location was based on finding the river on the southwest end of the desert where I started and following its trajectory for a few hundred yards, where I estimated I had gotten when I fell into that big sand pit.

"You've already narrowed it down more than all the people I've talked to and all the books I've read on the subject," Yorick assured me. "We're definitely going to uncover the Moon Temple. I can feel it." He had such a passionate look in his eyes. I'd never seen anyone get so excited about ghosts before.

Golden sands everywhere, sometimes loose and sometimes packed. Whenever the terrain changed, it felt like murder on my knees while I adjusted. The sand itself was probably half the cause of my sunburn—the way it reflected the sunlight so brightly and burned my feet every time it slipped inside my shoes. I had almost forgotten how low visibility got when the sand storms kicked up, too, and the sand pits must have acquired a taste for my flesh on the previous trip because I swear they were chasing me this time and opening up every five meters.

At least the second trip in the desert was a little bit easier. I wasn't stranded out there completely unprepared. Yorick provided me with a hooded cloak to keep sun exposure low. The fabric breathed quite well and so it didn't add much to my body temperature, and it was light-colored to reflect sunlight away from me. On top of that, I had a lot more water in my supplies this time, plus an extra spray bottle for the sole purpose of keeping my skin and clothing wet. All those preparations were necessary since it was too difficult to go searching for a temple I didn't even see the first time in the low visibility of the nighttime desert.

Unfortunately, when we ended up at the place where I thought I found the temple, we found no such evidence of a subterranean structure. Yorick pulled out his yakoni to help us look. The dark imp pokémon had sensitive ears and an acute ability to interpret sound. It was able to dig small holes in the ground and use its Screech ability as a form of sonar. That led to my first twelve encounters with sandiles—annoying reptiles with powerful jaws and an apparent dislike for sand sonar. It was my first chance to fight with Conch, my landlubber mergeant with the tail shaped like a conch shell and the proclivity for conking me on the head with water pellets. I knew he needed lots of water to stay healthy and couldn't stay on land for long, but his powerful water-type attacks knocked the sandiles out very quickly, and he didn't seem to suffer any ill effects for the five minutes he spent in the sun.

After twelve sonar attempts, I was ready to give up the search. Yorick made the temple sound like an awesome place to explore, especially knowing I'd be one of the first ever to do so. And I really wanted to try to solve the puzzle on that door; I was sure that I could've done it if I weren't so dizzy from the heat. But I obviously got turned around at some point and stopped traveling in a straight line. With no true landmarks to guide me, I was probably going in near circles in the sand.

"I'm sorry, Rick. I guess my memory…" I trailed off when my mind began running laps around my lapse.

"Don't worry too much. You've narrowed the search zone tremendously. And more importantly, you've proven the temple does exist. I'll keep coming back out here as long as it takes for me to find the temple."

"Shut up for a second," I said. He looked at me like I slapped him, but the intense look on my face gave me a pass. I pulled a pokéball from my side—the one I didn't even remember throwing. "I have one more idea." I pressed the lock and popped open the pokéball.

"What have you got?" Yorick asked as the energy spilled from the pokéball and reshaped itself without touching the ground.

"With a little luck, we'll find out."

And there before me was the sigilyph that appeared in my possession during my memory lapse. Two of its eyes spun rapidly, examining the surroundings. The third eye was trained on me. It creeped me out a little, just as it had in that hospital room.

"Do you understand me when I talk?" I asked the pokémon. Its two wandering eyes spun back and stared right at me. I felt a sharp pang of fear shoot right through the center of my chest. But as creepy as the pokémon was, it wasn't behaving in any hostile manner.

In response to my question, the sigilyph tilted its spire forward: I think it was nodding.

"I don't remember capturing you. Do you remember the location where we met?" After staring for a moment, the sigilyph nodded again. "Really? Was it at the Moon Temple? Can you lead us there?" I probably asked too many questions, but it nodded again. It turned away from Yorick and me and began fluttering slowly through the air.

"Does it really know where we're going?" Yorick asked me while he moistened his hood again. I figured it was a good time for me to do the same.

"We might as well try it out, right? Can't get much more lost than we already are."

We followed the sigilyph for several meters when Yorick told me, "Legends say sigilyphs were the guardians of ancient cities. Maybe you met and captured this one while it was guarding the Moon Temple." It was certainly possible. We were traveling so intentionally that I started wondering if the sigilyph really did know exactly where it was going. I hoped it wasn't leading us into some kind of trap. I still had trust issues with it.

Only a kilometer away from where I gave up hope, the sand underfoot became loose again. Sigilyph brought us to a spot where two dunes shaped like waves created a valley out of our path as if a solid river of water had blown clean through a mountain of sand. Less than halfway down the valley, sigilyph turned directly toward the wall. Sure enough, underneath the loose sand was a man-sized hole in the terrain. The hole was too complete for it to be natural.

Sigilyph stopped and turned to look at me. "Is this the place?" I asked. The pokémon nodded. "Okay." I took out the pokéball again and recalled sigilyph. I was grateful for its help, but I still didn't trust it. It was a reminder that my memory sucked, and I wondered if its psychic power wasn't the cause of my memory gap.

"You want to go first?" I offered Yorick. Seeing as this was his big dream, he definitely wanted to go first. That's why I took a little hop and slipped straight through the hole. The drop was six meters, which caught me off guard as I slammed into the ground pretty hard. In hindsight, I have no idea why I offered Yorick the chance to go first and then pushed past him. He asked me the same, and I told him at the time that it was dark and I feared for his safety.

"What's it look like down there? What do you see?"

That was a good question. What _was_ I seeing? It didn't look dark anymore. It was actually quite bright in that hallway. Not really a hallway, though. It had windows. Six of them on either side of me, all showing a beautiful landscape shooting by fast enough to be a blur depending on where I fixed my gaze. There was no sand at all. No desert. I was practically flying between lush trees and grass as high as my waist. The sky was perfectly blue, not even flawed with a single cloud. The floor was steady beneath my feet, and yet I felt like I was sliding along the ground as the speed of sound.

The sounds! That hum coming from the floor underfoot was a calming drone, occasionally disrupted by the slightest screech as the faux hallway careened around a sharp bend or turned up or down along the track. And how did I miss all the people? Dozens of men and women sat around me. Everyone was facing the same direction we were traveling. Many of them were having their own quiet discussions. No one seemed to notice me standing up in the middle of the hallway.

I got it then. I was standing in a train car. The music was okay—some quiet, upbeat tune that came out more than ten years ago. Two people walked into the car from the train car behind us carrying boxed meals that smelled pretty good—some sort of chicken seasoned with garlic. I tried getting their attention to ask if I could have a bite, but they didn't pay any attention to me.

"I can't wait to get back home. I miss Gus so much!"

_What?_

The woman sitting in the seat beside me just said my name. She was young and pretty—maybe the most attractive woman I ever saw. She had soft features like Katie, a tough air about her like Brooke, but she had brown hair with a touch of awesomeness just like mine. The man sitting beside her was physically a good match for her. They were both slender and a little shorter than average height. All four eyes between them were blue, and I could tell by the way they looked at one another and exchanged gentle touches how much in love they were. More than all that, they had the exact same smile. When he smiled at her eagerness to see Gus, she returned the same amused smile.

Gus must've been the name of their kid or something. I didn't know who they were.

"Excuse me," I said suavely and confidently. "Did you say you—uh?"

Suddenly the floor beneath me lost its steadiness. First it shook violently from side to side as if the track were loaded down with emetics (because it made me want to vomit). I could have wet myself when we suddenly hopped through the air. We hit the ground hard and everyone who was once upright now got a face-full of the seats in front of them. I ended up tumbling into the back door toward the dining car. A sharp pain shot through the center of my back, and my neck crunched a little from the train hopping.

And then we hopped again. This time, we didn't come back down. I could see from the windows we had fallen into the ravine below. _Landing_ wasn't very descriptive of what was about to happen.

"Holy crap!"

_That voice!_ Yorick wasn't on the train!

Oh yeah… Neither was I. My eyes readjusted and I remembered that I wasn't really on a train. I was standing in a dark, subterranean tunnel beneath the desert. Yorick stood next to me, but I couldn't see much other than to say he looked as shaken as I was.

"Come on out, Reggie." I popped open Reggie's pokéball and felt quite happy to see my fiery conflacat. I didn't even mind when he climbed my waist and pressed his cold nose up against my face while he sniffed the desert on me. I pushed him down. "Okay, Reggie. Use a low-power Ember to light this place up." He dropped back to the ground and sprayed a small puff of fire down the tunnel. It offered me a glimpse of the tunnel—high and narrow, but short—and the crumbling walls of the temple right in front of us.

But the flame died quickly. "Let me get it," Yorick suggested. His elekid stood in front of him, already summoned from its pokéball. "Use Flash." Quickly to me, he added, "You might want to avert your eyes." I probably waited longer than I should have, but I watched the yellow plug-head collect and repel static electricity from its body, and the instant I felt my eyes burn, I turned away. Thanks to the Flash technique, those static ions lingered in the air, offering us additional light in the tunnel even without a lantern.

When I walked into the rock wall, Yorick asked me, "Are you okay?"

"Just waiting for the afterimage to fade from my retinas," I replied. It faded from green quickly, but it was still purple for a little while, blocking half of my peripheral view.

Yorick had his arms folded across his chest like he was cold. Something shook him up pretty badly. He hadn't even noticed the temple right in front of us yet—or at least, he hadn't made a big deal about something he spent two years searching for.

"Are you alright?"

He forced a chuckle. "Yeah, I'm okay. I guess that scene scared me more than I realized." He looked at me with a little smile and said, "I honestly didn't know that a pokéball would cause a fundamental breakdown in the electrical signal of those little robots. If I had, I wouldn't have tried capturing them."

Needless to say, I wasn't sure what he was talking about.

"You saw those explosions, too, right?" Obviously he and I saw different visions. I saw the train crash, and he apparently saw some robot pokémon explode when he threw a pokéball at them.

"Yeah," I lied. I didn't want him to try analyzing my dream for me, so I pretended we both had the same hallucination… because that's exactly what they were, and there's no harm in pretending that a _hallucination_ was actually a different _hallucination_ because _hallucinations_ aren't real. They can't be. It's impossible.

Drawing on his story, I said, "For a minute, I thought this tunnel took us directly into that old cartoon with the ninja squirtles and the little bitey mice."

He confessed, "That where I got the idea." Hmm. What a lucky coincidence. "I've always loved tinkering with things, and my parents bought me little robot kits every year for my birthday. Never enough to make a whole army like that, mind you, but I remember thinking: 'If I'm never going to be able to see and capture a real Mew, then I'll just make one myself.' Like I said, though, I didn't account for the electrical disruption of throwing a pokéball at it."

Out of curiosity, I asked, "Is that why you wear that beanie?"

He patted his head and said, "No! I have hair."

"Just asking." Recognizing that I was still very hot, and even hotter with both of our pokémon wandering around generating fire and electricity, I motioned toward the temple. "Is that what you were looking for?"

The temple was a shambles, and I had no idea how it got underground, but it was huge. The wall to the right of the door had fallen forward like a bomb went off near the roof, and it left a ramp of cinderblocks leading up through the hole. The height of the doorway itself was difficult to judge after it caved in, but the tip of the spire on top of the temple reached all the way up to the rocky sands overhead. Remembering how I got there the first time, I kept my eye on the ceiling in case of another collapse. Come to think of it, those sand pits are probably at fault for what happened to the roof.

"This is so exciting!" Yorick said gleefully. He truly looked like a kid at Christmas. "Be careful going in. The structure hardly looks stable, so we don't know what might trigger a cave-in."

I rubbed my back from the memories of falling into that torch pit. "Way ahead of you on that one."

In hindsight, I'm glad Yorick was an engineer with a ghost fascination and not an archaeologist with, say, a rock fascination or we could have been there all day, examining every square inch of the place instead of just stepping forward and exploring. Sure, Yorick and I found the ruins of a temple to be fascinating, and I immediately thought of six ways to turn the temple into a hideout to scare the crap out of—seven ways—everyone in town with fake hauntings, but his real goal was to find that legendary Red Whisk and I really wanted—eight ways—to try my hand at that puzzle door.

The inside of the temple was dark, but not dark enough to need another Flash technique. The walls were dry and musty and covered with sand and some type of flowering mold. A long corridor was what waited behind the collapsed door—or maybe it was created by the collapsed door—and I was simultaneously pleased and disappointed when the corridor opened up. Yorick and I found ourselves in some kind of grand hall with open floor space, save a fallen cinderblock or two. There were two raised torch pits a few feet apart from the walls, and one of them was absolutely covered with a pile of sand big enough to drag a person underground.

"I think this is the place," I told Yorick dryly.

He probably didn't even hear me. Yorick was bounding around the room holding a handheld shoe polisher. That's what I thought it was, anyway. When he stopped moving around and took a moment just to stare at the device, I could see it was a shoe polisher _with lights_ and little antennae that rose higher as he neared the back of the room.

"What is that?" I asked him.

"I'm not absolutely certain, but it has the definite characteristics of ghosts. These readings suggest a full spectral form, although the energy fluctuation suggests the rumors of it being part steel-type still hold water."

I made a face at him, which was a total waste of energy because he wasn't paying any attention to me. "Okay. What is that thing you're holding in your hand?" Whatever zone he was currently stuck in—Twilight, I think—I needed to use detailed questions.

"Oh, this? It's a PKE meter—just something I put together to detect ghosts."

"PKE…" I never actually studied physics or quantum physics or psychophysics or paranormal physics, but I did watch a lot of TV. "Psychokinetic energy?"

"Exactly. It's a measure of paranormal influence on physical space that can't be accounted for by existing physical energy. Ghosts leave trails of PKE behind all the time. This device helps me find them." Staring into the shoe polisher, he wandered right up to the door with the complex peg lock. He pushed against the door and found it completely unresponsive.

"This door is heavy, and it seems to be locked," Yorick said. He examined the peg holes and added, "The lock is definitely not a simple one, either. There have got to be a million possible combinations for putting these pegs in the holes, if that's even how you unlock it." He took a step back and craned his neck to see the ceiling. "I wonder if we might find a hole in the ceiling where we could climb past it."

Delusions. No such luck about skipping the lock. But I didn't care about that anyway. As I looked at the door again with its formidable lock and imposing mathematical probabilities, I wasn't put out in the least. In fact, I put on a little grin, cracked my knuckles, and began poking around. One peg here, another peg there… Before long, I placed the pegs into the shape of a mew in the middle of the grid. Stupid idea. I moved the pegs again and went simpler: a voltorb along the outer rim, but that didn't work either. Then again…

"Circles," I said.

"Maligned love burgles Ducey?"

I forgot Yorick was even there, which is why I only heard gibberish. Not sure what he actually said or who Ducey is, but I gave myself a clue to the answer by seeing circles in the peg board. "Remember the gym." I closed my eyes for a second and envisioned the logo on the pokémon gym. Four circles with twenty-six nodes. Could it be just a coincidence? I decided to find out: one right above the center of the lock and one directly below, eight evenly-spaced on the next circular layer, then fourteen after that, and one more on the top and bottom.

"What's that supposed to be?"

As I set the last peg in place and heard the accompanying _click-snap_, I said, "That's our ticket inside." I leaned into the door and felt nothing different. The door still didn't budge when I tipped my weight forward and pushed harder. I was sure that had to be the right solution, mostly because I was stuck if it wasn't. I took a few steps and got a running start before slamming my shoulder into the door.

"It budged!" I yelped excitedly over the sound of cracking rust. That meant I truly did figure out the solution to the keyhole puzzle. The excitement was short-lived as I slumped back and felt the pain in my shoulder. "Ow. That door is heavy. I guess it has been shut for a thousand years, if your story was accurate. What I wouldn't give to weigh a few hundred extra pounds right now." Yes, I realized how stupid it sounded as soon as I said it.

And how pointless. I pulled a pokéball from my waist and said, "Give me a hand here, Siggy." Sure, Reggie weighed more than my golfoam did, but Reggie didn't have a Foamy Punch. When Siggy wound up and drove his bubbly fist into the door, the solid door slid backward on its hinges and popped out of the door frame.

"This is it," Yorick said. His voice was teeming with so much anticipation he might've wet himself.

The room behind the door was too dark to see anything. I suddenly experienced intense trepidation about entering the room, almost like I shouldn't disturb the contents of the room. It was so difficult to open the door that I felt my own form of anticipation, and it made me a little nauseous. I think Yorick experienced a similar emotion as even he seemed reluctant to enter. I found myself trying to peer into the room without moving forward, wishing for binoculars to sprout from my eyes and grant me super vision.

Suddenly an apparition popped out of thin air in front of the door. Its body shone bright yellow for an instant, temporarily blinding me, but not before I caught sight of a tiny body wrapped in golden rings. There was a distinct face in the center—it looked humanoid in that second, like a little blonde girl—and then the light disappeared instantly, leaving me a bit baffled.

Thinking directly of Yorick's last statement, I said, "That was what?"

* * *

><p><em>Once again, I offer thanks to <strong>Dodgerjoey<strong> for giving Yorick to the story. Next time, Gus will make plans to leave the desert while Yorick stays behind. Considering his vehemence that hallucinations don't matter, Gus seems plagued by the vision he saw beneath the desert. Why did he see that vision?_

_**Trivia:** Mergeant = merman + sergeant. Army ranks name part of his entire evolutionary line.  
>The mergeant will finally get the spotlight in a more detailed battle next chapter.<br>_


	18. Water Pulse

Water Pulse

So here's the problem I have with ghosts. It doesn't matter how small the temple is or if the room is simply wide open space with no obstructions in the middle of the floor. As soon as the game of Hide-and-Seek begins, you will never _ever _find that ghost! Even with my entire team of pokémon and Yorick's team, we couldn't find a single clue about any creature, man or pokémon, living in that place. There wasn't even a broken pokéball in there.

Reggie and Elekid did their parts helping to light up the sealed room for us. Reggie was pretty clingy, never straying far from my waist and never skipping an opportunity to step right in front of me. I tried telling him he weighed two hundred pounds more than I did, but that didn't seem to convince him to stop cutting me off. Sigilyph tried psychically divining the locations of any nearby pokémon, but he wasn't able to come up with anything. I was pretty sure if Reggie's nose and Sigilyph's psychicness couldn't find anything then there was nothing in that room. But in the spirit of considering alternative explanations, I acknowledged that maybe the ghost was so powerful that it was simply beyond the capacity for me or my pokémon to notice it.

The only thing of substance in the room was a pedestal in the center. That's pretty much where I would have expected to find the pokéball of a legendary pokémon. The setup was just too perfect for me to doubt for even a second that we found the location of that steel-ghost Yorick wanted, but it wasn't there. Maybe someone else beat us to it, but the door was still locked and I questioned anyone else's ability to figure out the combination. Maybe the pokémon actually broke out of its pokéball before we got there and just took advantage when I opened the door to scare us and then slip out of there unnoticed.

Yorick focused on searching the pedestal for clues. He discovered a variety of symbols that seemed random at first, but then he started to notice a pattern. "Ponyta, spearow, galvantula, squirtle." And there were more on the sides and the back. The sequence was clearly intentional, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it. It didn't take a linguist to realize the symbols formed some sort of ancient, written language. Yorick pulled out his pokégear and tried to do some on-the-spot research to decipher the code using the internet.

Meanwhile, I searched the walls for some sort of secret passage. An ancient temple like this, buried in the middle of the desert… No way was it as simple as one room with a pokéball on a pedestal. Occasionally standing on Reggie's broad backside, I felt along every square inch of the walls while Yorick spouted off bits and pieces of the symbols every time he managed to come up with something.

"I'm pretty sure this is the name Resowisp," he said.

"We already knew about the Ready Lisp," I pointed out. "That's why we're here."

"Apparently she was associated with the moon."

"And they locked her in the Moon Temple? Sounds a little unorthodox." Luckily, Yorick recognized my sarcasm.

The systematic motion of feeling along the wall pretty much blurred the passage of time for me, so it was somewhere between ten seconds and thirty minutes when Yorick came up with the next passage: "Resowisp was sealed because of her effect on the behavior of men."

"Oh yeah? Is she that hot?"

"I'm pretty sure the ones who wrote this meant that to include all humans. They aren't specific about the behaviors exhibited, but basically she was associated with increases in crime and mental illness."

"Sounds like a real party animal."

He huffed loudly. "That may be the case."

After an hour of searching that barren temple, the walls felt like they were moving. The heat was definitely too much by then—like living inside one of those cardboard pizza boxes designed to keep the pizza warm during delivery, except replace the cardboard with cinder blocks and the pizza with two overcooked teenagers.

Man, I could go for a pizza right then.

Yorick asked me, "Are you ready to go?"

"Absolutely!" I replied with grand excitement billowing in my stomach.

"Really? What is it?" Now he spoke with the kind of excitement that follows hours of fruitless effort, but we weren't having the same conversation, I hoped.

"What? I thought you just asked if I was ready to leave."

His eyebrows came very close together when he looked confused. Of course, the gap was hidden by the bangs sticking out of his beanie, so it looked like they merged from my perspective. "I asked if you found anything yet."

"Oh. Yeah, that's definitely not what I heard you say."

"You heard what you wanted to hear."

"I'd say that's an accurate conclusion."

As much as he wanted to stay and explore, Yorick was big enough to admit that he wasn't fully equipped and that I couldn't really leave on my own without risking wandering lost through the desert again and mindlessly catching more pokémon.

"I understand, and I can't begrudge your impatience. You are much more the adventurous type and need to be doing something in order to feel satisfied." I felt puzzled by his revelation. I'd known Yorick for a total of approximately fifteen hours, yet he understood my core better than the Natrium Elder did after fifteen years. Considering Yorick was an engineer and not a psychiatrist, I wasn't sure whether to be impressed with his insight or bothered by it. But I didn't have to feel anything about him to feel better about leaving the desert. He recalled his two pokémon and added, "Let's head back to Ferrum City."

That was the only time in my life I was happy to see the desert. I dragged Yorick along at a superhuman pace, neglecting my hydration levels from the moment I caught sight of the Iron Oasis on the horizon. Yorick looked ready to pass out by the time we made it into the city and found an air conditioned pokémon center with a water fountain.

He turned to me and offered a real man's handshake—the kind with a firm, almost competitive grip that lasted exactly three seconds and no longer. "Thank you, Gus. I can honestly say, I may never have found what I was looking for without your help."

"You've still got a way to go yet," I pointed out. "Resowisp seems to be missing."

"I'll find her eventually," Yorick said. "Now that we've proven her legend is real, the hard part is done." His unending optimism was inspiring, and a bit naïve, but he was he actually believable. Although young and inexperienced, he had passion. If anyone was going to find the secret of that temple, it was him. We parted ways, and I fully expected the next time I heard about him to be with some history-making discovery or invention.

I figured the first place to visit was the air conditioned pokémon center. I wanted to make it a habit that I always go there first so I never accidentally cause my pokémon injury by pushing them past their limits. Fiona was in—the nurse against my feeding pokémon Salamander Spice. Actually, seeing her reminded me that I wanted to head by Ferrum Guts Kelly's sandwich place again later. Fiona offered very little help with my desire for sightseeing, save advising I renew my sunscreen and change my clothes into something less complete now that I was somewhere with plenty of shade, an occasional breeze, and lots of sand.

The city wasn't actually as big as one might expect considering its designation as "city," but with the factories and indoor farming facilities I checked out, people told me the city was fairly self-sufficient without a lot of external trade. Some things were easier to provide outside of town, and trade was generally good for the economy, but for the most part, they didn't need anyone else. They actually spent the previous year building an extension of the mainland magnet train in order to provide quicker and more convenient transportation into and out of the desert just to improve tourism. Given the beauty and the exotic, sandy scent coming from the spring lake in the middle of the city, I thought tourism was pretty much a guarantee. Trains were supposed to begin departing regularly the next day, which meant I wouldn't have to stay in the desert for much longer.

And in my effort to stay occupied for a day, I came across a sign outside a little bakery—which smelled strongly of cinnamon and sand. It was a hand-written sign with a drawing of an old man with a stern expression, a firm chin, and a lot of facial hair. Oddly enough, he looked familiar, though I'd never met the man. Not in person, anyway. It was a face found on the side of a coin I chanced upon in the desert, when I first fell into the Moon Temple. According to the sign, the owner lost it in the desert and sought the statistical miracle of someone locating it in the middle of all that sand. I flipped the coin once inside its plastic case and figured, "Why not return it while I'm here? Maybe I'll get a free muffin out of it."

The lady at the counter directed me up the stairs to the second floor of the building. Apparently, that's where the guy who owned it lived. And he was far from what I expected. He was a big, heavyset guy with bushy side burns to the chin and a Mohawk. Nothing else about him caught my attention except the hair.

"Can I help you?" he asked when I knocked on the door to the little apartment.

"You could if I had any desire to shave parts of my head," I answered. For the less sarcastic part of my response, I held up the encased coin. "I found this in the desert and heard you lost one just like it."

His eyes lit up like an elekid using a Flash technique, and I would know. Mr. Mohawk couldn't put his thanks into words, but he did put it into a big, awkward, asphyxiating hug. Everything started to blur and my head spun laps around the room before the big guy finally let go. Seeing my condition, he ushered me to a leather recliner and offered me a cup of tea. It was an oddly soothing brew at the throat, though the aftertaste made my stomach rumble and my nose run. He sat on the plush, plaid-coated couch just across the coffee table from me, staring at the coin like I'd just returned his right hand.

"Man. I thought I'd never see this again," he said. "How'd you find it?"

"I just stumbled upon it. One question: Is this tea seasoned with molten lava?"

With a grin, he said, "A dash of Salamander Spice. It's good, don't you think?"

"It is. I've never been able to smell so much." Actually, that part wasn't really just humorous. The smell of sand that mixed with everything around me started to fade. I mean, I could still smell it, but suddenly it was distinct from the cinnamon downstairs and the unwashed leather I was sitting in. Maybe I had sand stuck in my nose all day.

But the big guy continued to stare at the coin. "Are you a coin collector, by chance?" I asked him.

"Not really. This is a memento of my grandmother." He turned the face of the coin to me—the one with the cranky man—and said, "My grandmother used to put me to sleep with stories of Professor Aspen."

"I'm not familiar with him."

"Really?" His eyes lit up a second time. It was obviously a passionate subject. "Professor Aspen was the first advocate for pokémon rights in Perioble. A thousand years ago, the region was ruled by a man called the Hydrogen Emperor. He hated any pokémon that could be seen as a threat to his reign, so he started a war to exterminate them all. But Professor Aspen organized a group of pokémon sympathizers and fought back. Through determination and courage, that one man managed to bring down the entire Hydrogen Empire without starting even a single battle!"

"Wow. Sounds like an impressive guy." Curious, though, I added, "I'm not too familiar with the Hydrogen Empire."

"Not a lot of people are. It was a thousand years ago. But it's a great piece of history, and it tells of a time when pokémon could have been wiped out."

I couldn't help thinking of Reggie—how friendly he was and how strong he could be. To me, it seems pokémon can make a king's reign last even longer, or certainly solidify his authority. "Sounds like the Hydrogen Emperor was a little paranoid."

"Everyone in charge worries about what will come next. They're all human, after all."

"Very true. Humans are too human for their own good," I said with elongated words, partly in a mocking way. Not that I had a problem with the guy, but fables—stories with morals embedded in them—were always too coincidental to be realistic. As I stood, I said, "Speaking of humans on top losing their status, I can't stick around. I plan to go do battle with the gym leader here."

"Hang on," Mr. Mohawk said. He clambered to his feet and hopped to the end table next to the recliner. He searched the top drawer for a moment, and then he turned around and presented me with a disc. It read: 04. Strength.

"A technical machine?"

"Close. A _hidden _machine," he clarified. "Technical machines are great, but the moves they teach pokémon can be forgotten with lack of use or with severe trauma. Moves learned through hidden machines are much harder to forget, plus they tend to be useful for any team you can think of."

"It sounds like this sure would have been helpful in the desert," I commented, thinking of how heavy that locked door was. "But what's this for?"

"You managed to find my grandmother's memento in the vast expanse of the desert _and _bring it back to me. You really have no idea what that means to me. This is the least I can do to repay you."

"I suppose I can accept it." I offered him a handshake. "I don't think we ever introduced ourselves. I'm Gus."

"I'm Mo." I decided I had to leave then before I said something offensive to a guy who just offered me a cup of lava and a useful technique for my pokémon. (Last name, Hawk, right?)

After a little wandering along the city streets, I found myself directed back to the board walk to find the gym on the east end of the oasis. Unfortunately, the door was locked shut. Apparently the gym leader was taking a day off. Just bad luck for me.

But back behind me, the oasis was filled with water pokémon. Most of them fled near the shore close to me, but two of them made an amazing ruckus on the other end. It was a battle between two water-types. The specific movements of each attack were a mystery to those of us on land, but the surface of the water sure presented a spectacle. Living not far from the sea my whole life, I'd seen the effects of underwater territorial fights, but those were always over quickly, and they never achieved the scale of a real battle.

Water erupted from the spring the same as if a pipe burst, raining a light mist down on the spectators and producing a rainbow effect across the sky. With all the water spouting around, it was the first time I'd ever seen a triple rainbow: a rainbow, its inverted reflection, and a barely visible reflection that almost connected the other two in the shape of an N. Since I was too far out to see the battle beneath the waves, I enjoyed the surface show while I turned down the shore of the spring and went to investigate the cause.

"Come one, come all," announced a man with a megaphone in hand. He was dressed like a guy who would just as soon be out on the water riding the waves built by these battling pokémon as enticing people to watch or participate. "Our very own gym leader is accepting all challenges today from water pokémon users. Win, and earn yourself a ticket for the Ferrum Magnet Train's maiden voyage to Cuprum Town at sunset this evening! Step right up and register!"

A free ride on the magnet train? Not only was that a luxury train making its way to Cuprum Town in only an hour's time, but Cuprum Town wasn't surrounded on all sides by sand! How could I pass that up?

The line was a lot shorter than I would have thought considering the stakes. I guess other people weren't as eager to get out of the desert as I was. Either they put something in the water, or the permanent residents didn't get stuck in the Moon Temple twice in three days. Although the water thing was more likely, I took advantage of everyone's apparent ambivalence about leaving to get my turn to battle more quickly.

"Here we go, folks," the surfer dude announced. "We have Goose here, ready to challenge Tellulah for admission to the magnet train."

"Goose?" I repeated with utter bewilderment. "How do you mispronounce Gus? It's one easy syllable! Most people almost say it by accident when they get hit in the stomach."

"Sorry, dude," the guy said with a casual shrug. I'll bet that megaphone could outperform him on a written test.

"Is there a problem?" asked the swimsuit-clad woman standing on the buoy across from me. She was about my height with dark skin and very curly hair, yet what drew my attention were the ridiculously oversized sunglasses she wore on her face. They were those sunglasses with the star-shaped frames, pink and studded with rhinestones the size of your fist. The last time I saw someone wearing those, a little girl ran away crying.

"No problem, Telly," I replied as I pulled a pokéball from my sack. "I'm just excited for my first water battle against a real gym leader." The pokéball spilled into the water and took the form of Conch, my mergeant with the conch-shaped tail and the torso like a scaly man.

"You're not from Ferrum. Is this your first time meeting a real gym leader?"

"'Real?' Isn't your gym unsanctioned?"

She narrowed her eyes at me, but she didn't look offended. "Everyone has to start somewhere, _Goose_." Fair play to mock my name for inadvertently insulting her skills. Still, I may not have been giving her fair credit. Even a leader of an unsanctioned gym was the best trainer in the region. As a young trainer of hardly three weeks, I wasn't really in a position to underestimate anyone.

"That's true. I started in Kalium Town with Garfield."

"Garfield?" The way she repeated his name reminded me of whenever someone mentioned spiders around Michelle back in Natrium Village. She was the first girl I ever had a crush on, and she got the absolute jitters thinking about any and all eight-legged pokémon. Could Tellulah be scared of Garfield? "You trained with Garfield? Do you have a Potassium Badge?"

"Yes." I earned one, but suddenly my conscience squeezed me into amending my answer. "Well, sort of." Now my logical side started complaining that even if I earned one, I didn't technically have one. "Yes and no." Now my logical side wondered why I accept indecision when there was a much simpler answer. "Mostly no."

Tellulah just looked confused. "So which is it?"

"Well, we battled and he offered me a badge, but I didn't take it." I scratched my head and admitted, "I'm currently a little fuzzy on _why_." Then it was my turn to ask questions. "Have you met Garfield?"

"I have," she answered. "I didn't train under him, mind you. I trained with Blake at the Water Gym in Hydrargyrum City. But Garfield is a strong trainer, indeed. A bit cranky for my taste, but if you trained with him, then I've got a _real _opponent on my hands this time."

Something about the way she emphasized "real opponent" reminded me of Garfield's talk of level-matching his opponents—battling me and other trainers with pokémon at a similar level of training rather than taking on all young bloods with his most dominating pokémon. Except this time, Tellulah was talking about _not_ pulling her punches with me. This was as good a chance as any to take my pulse in a water battle.

With a cruel grin, she opened her pokéball. "Garfield's a _land _pokémon trainer. This is going to be a whole other kind of fight for you, Goose."

I looked down at Conch, who looked back at me with as big a smile as I'd ever seen from a fish. I think it was a smile, anyway. His lips didn't show a lot of expression, but he always seemed to open and close his tiny jaw more quickly when he was excited, and now he was moving so quickly I'd lose a finger if I stuck it in there. I wondered if there was a language amidst the spurts and spits the mergeants make.

Tellulah's pokéball produced a six-foot-long fish with no tail. I'm no ichthyologist, but I figured a fish without a tail couldn't swim very well. But this was no ordinary fish: It was a sharpedo. Basically, instead of a tail, it controlled its swimming through the use of its dorsal, ventral, and pectoral fins. But its teeth were razor-sharp, and that didn't look good for Conch or for Tellulah's creativity. (She named her sharpedo Razor. I mean, seriously?) It swam circles in front of Tellulah with its dorsal fin breaking the water's surface. One look at it and even I could tell: This fish was way more experienced than Conch.

Feigning stronger will than I had at the moment, I asked, "Are you ready for this, Conch?" My mergeant eagerly submerged. Suddenly I realized that not only was Conch a bit of a glutton for battle, he was also going to have a hard time hearing my commands under the water. Sound waves don't travel well through water. Part of the problem is that I'd be yelling at a surface that tends to reflect sound, and hearing is awkward because sound travels faster in water than in air. I knew he was a fish and probably had ears designed for hearing underwater, but would Conch be able to understand the difference in my voice?

"Easy prey, Razor, but don't underestimate him. Go low and get started with Aqua Jet." In response to her words, the sharpedo sank below the surface and submerged to the floor of the spring.

"Be careful," I spoke, hoping Conch could hear me.

For a moment, it seemed like the sharpedo died on the sea bed. Just as I planned my condolences to Tellulah and decided on a eulogy theme, the brutal pokémon shot through the water faster than I'd ever seen from a marine creature. I really would have lost sight of it if not for the wake streaming behind it. Even on land, I never reached speeds like that. It was no less than a torpedo in the water.

Before I even had the chance to shout, Razor collided with Conch in a jet-powered tackle. Conch made a good move to rise in the water and avoid the attack, but he moved too soon and gave Razor a chance to adjust and ensure the attack's success.

"Your mergeant has nice moves," Tellulah offered me, "but Razor is much too fast. In the water, there's hardly a faster pokémon in the world." I actually jumped to that conclusion already, but it was helpful to have assurance I was accurately assessing the opponent.

"Fast is only part of the battle. Get him back with Water Pulse!" I shouted. Conch must have been too deep in the water to hear me because he didn't react at all. It didn't look like the tackle hurt him too much, but I could tell from the Tellulah's carefree grin and the way she didn't offer a follow-up command that she and Razor were just feeling out the fight, assessing Conch's strength before trying anything risky. It was a good strategy. I needed a better one.

"He's just a pushover after all," Tellulah spoke as Razor retreated momentarily from his prey. "This time, Crunch him." The sharpedo submerged again and began powering its jaws. I had a pretty good guess that Crunch was a biting attack, and Conch's scales could probably absorb only so much of that type of damage. Conch didn't have a protective shell to withdraw into: His best chance was to avoid the attack. If only I could get a command to him…

How was Tellulah doing it? She wasn't wearing any kind of special apparatus. Where would she hide it in that swimsuit? No, she was plainly talking to the surface of the water, but her pokémon heard her regardless. What was different between her doing it and my doing it?

Of course: Razor's distance from the surface. He always came to the surface to receive commands whereas Conch submerged himself pretty far and stayed there where he couldn't hear me. Maybe if I got him to come to the surface, I could give him commands and make this a real battle. But how to do it?

"How else?" I accidentally asked out loud. Tallulah and the guy with the megaphone IQ were confused, but mostly because they didn't expect me to drop to my knees and thrust my head in the water.

Expelling all the air from my lungs in one burst, I screamed, "Use Iron Tail!"

When I came up gasping for air, Tellulah asked me, "What was that about?"

But I didn't have to answer. The battle spoke for itself. Conch's tail flashed the same way light reflects off polished iron. With Razor heading straight for him, Conch was able to focus on nothing except his attack. Just before the sharpedo could filet him with those incredible teeth, Conch whipped his tail straight up. The viscosity of the water forced an opposite reaction, sliding him out of the line of attack while allowing his tail to stab sharply into Razor's long body. I enjoyed the look on Tellulah's face after that move.

"I guess water pokémon do have a way of understanding words spoken beneath the surface," I said as I brushed my hair back with my fingers.

"Of course they do," Tellulah replied. "They wouldn't be much use in a battle if they couldn't understand our commands. But don't think Razor's out yet. He's still got a world of pain to bring to this battle."

"It's a _he_?"

She rolled her eye at me while Razor drifted toward the surface again. He—apparently—was trailing blood through the water. Not in huge quantities, but enough for me to ask Tellulah if it's a good idea to continue.

"A wound like that can disappear in an instant at the pokémon center," she explained. "Those machines can restore any pokémon to perfect condition, no matter what kind of shape he was in, save the worst, of course. But Razor is far from being in that kind of shape with this little old scrimmage. Use Rage."

I think that last part was meant for the sharpedo—not for me. Luckily, Conch came to the surface this time and broke through to look at me with those big fish eyes, begging me for further attention. "Here's an idea," I said with a little grin. "Go down deep and taunt him with Water Pulse. It won't do a lot of damage, but it will get his attention. You'll have to be fast, though, so hit him and then swim back to the surface right away. You got that?" He kept moving his fishy lips, but the look in his eye didn't change at all.

More simply this time, I pointed as I spoke. "Go deep. Use Water Pulse. Come back up real fast." Conch submerged himself pretty much on the word "Pulse," so I hoped he got the rest of that. The resurfacing part was an important part of the attack, especially since Razor was so much faster in the water.

The only problem with giving commands to Conch was that I couldn't hear the commands Tellulah gave her sharpedo. No doubt it was a command to use something stronger than a water attack. Water Pulse was a bit of a gamble, but it was mostly an annoyance. As soon as Conch reached the bottom, he began twirling his right arm. It was tough to see it through the water, but with every revolution of his arm, Conch built up a small vortex right beside him. Razor seemed ready to brush off the attack as the sharpedo targeted my Conch and took off like a missile. On about the twelfth revolution, Conch thrust his arm through the vortex and blasted a disorienting pulse that smacked Razor dead-on.

"You think that attack was worth it?" Tellulah asked me. "Now that Razor's entered Rage mode, every new attack is just going to make him stronger."

"I was unaware of that," I confessed. "Thank for telling me that _after _I made my plan." That was not good news, but I had faith in Conch. It was still a good plan as long as he could make it work.

Conch kicked his tail and bolted for the surface just as Razor swept into the spot where Conch launched his pulse attack. But Razor didn't even slow down as he turned around and shot back up through the water. He was definitely faster than Conch, yet there was a single limitation to that I didn't realize. Actually, I'm not sure if Conch knew about it or if he just instinctually carried himself out of harm's way, but right as Razor opened wide his jaws, Conch changed direction and swam backward, looping around the sharpedo and continuing his path toward the surface. A sharpedo is fastest going along a straight path: Mix it up and they'll miss. Keeping an eye on the rising target, though, the sharpedo swept around and kept right on his tail.

"Where is he going?" Tellulah wondered.

"The one place a sharpedo is useless no matter how experienced," I answered.

Less than a second later, Conch burst through the surface of the water at a speed great enough to propel himself into the air with Razor close behind. It actually worked out better than I planned.

"Fish Kick!" I shouted. Flipping backward through the air the way he just had underwater, Conch wormed back around the sharpedo and slapped his heavy tail into the disoriented water pokémon. A sharpedo didn't battle so well outside of the water, and the force of the Fish Kick—a move my pokédex says is unique to the mergeant evolutionary line—hurled Razor onto the beach of the oasis, scaring the crap out of the spectators who had to abandon their picnic spot when a sharpedo slammed down with teeth chomping. Even after a kick like that, Razor kept swinging back and forth, trying to will himself into the water. In terms of stamina, he was one tough fish! He wasn't even gasping for air yet. But in terms of fighting ability, he was done.

Tellulah had trouble closing her jaws as she uttered, "Well I'll be." I'm pretty sure she left a word off the end of that sentence.

"That was pretty cool, dude," the surfer guy told me. He was laughing uncontrollably. "Did you see the way those people ran off scared? That was killer!" I missed it, but it didn't surprise me to hear two picnickers got frightened by a flying sharpedo. Michelle would have screamed from that, too.

"You make me question evolution," I told him. "I will admit, though, it's a talent to find the humor in shark attacks. And you have great hair. Stay happy, man." I looked at Conch, making that fishy face, and told him, "Good work, Conch. I honestly didn't expect we'd win that, but you are one tough fish-man." With that, I recalled him into his pokéball.

Tellulah touched her hand to Razor's face for a moment and then recalled the giant fish into his pokéball. "Kid, you just defeated my strongest pokémon with your very first water battle. Are you aware of how many times that has happened?"

"Um… Never?"

"Well, not since I took over this gym here. I admit, there were some times when I was still green behind the gills that some other folks got the better of me, but you're the first real trainer I've seen in this city in a long time. Folks like you just don't come out here much anymore."

"Why not? Seems like a fun place to hang out."

"That's just it. It's a wonderful place to hang out and take a vacation, but no one seeks out a place like this for training. That's why the previous gym leader left. He was tired of dealing only with trainers who use pokémon as surfboards. I was hoping to change all that when I reopened the Iron Gym."

"Maybe you just need a better campaign slogan," I suggested. "Training in the desert actually sounds quite tough. Training in an oasis city doesn't sound that tough. Try setting up some challenge actually in the desert and see how many trainers aren't willing to try their hand at it. And the magnet train should help. Well, it's a thought, anyway."

But she looked pleased with it. "And not a bad one, Gus."

"You stopped mocking my name."

"You earned it." She signaled to the surfer guy, retrieved a ticket from him, and handed it directly to me. "Here's your prize. Business class cabin, too. Enjoy the trip, Gus, and I don't just mean on the train." She leaned her head forward so her glasses dipped forward and I could see her brown eyes. "You're turning out to be a pretty good trainer already. I can't wait to see you again when your journey ends."

* * *

><p><em>Once more, thanks to <strong>DodgerJoey<strong> for submitting Yorick to the story. He's gone for now, but a true visionary is never gone for very long. Next time, Gus will reflect on his first magnet train ride as he arrives in Cuprum Town. In case you don't remember, that's where Team Omega's base of operations is located. Who's in charge and why did he decide to sponsor Gus?_

_**Trivia:** Mo only made it into the story as one of those random people in the games who give you TMs and HMs. His appearance is stolen from EarthBound again, where you find a contact lens in the desert and return it to a guy (for a pair of dirty socks).  
>Sharpedo is an example of a tricky pokémon to envision given the pokédex entry. It says 5'11" for height, but that would be an enormous set of teeth if they meant "from dorsal fin to ventral fin," so I chose to make it the length of the sharpedo's body instead.<em>


	19. Pay Day

Pay Day

The train carried me into Cuprum Town before nightfall. The ride was smooth enough, minus the turbulence when a couple of nut cases starting battling with electric pokémon in the middle of the ride. Some passenger with a feisty fire-type knocked out both idiots before they could shock the train's systems and derail the train and end up killing us all.

Instantly when I stepped off the train, I knew Cuprum was going to be so much more enjoyable than Ferrum was. The air actually smelled like grass, for one. Sure, there was a mountain range to the southeast that probably held a good deal of sand from its place bordering the desert, but Cuprum itself was in more of a steppe region: lots of grass with very few trees. Actually the only trees I saw grew around the river running along the south, and they weren't very prominent. I'd fallen from bigger trees than those.

Aside from the smell, the environment was fun to observe because of how relatively flat it was. In the desert, everything was flat but the heat obscured all things in the distance. In the steppe, flat and cool meant I could see for miles out on the horizon to the west and the north, and I could see that the mountain range bordering the desert also extended pretty far south. I couldn't see how far they went, though, because the height of the mountains was pretty incredible. It looked like there might even be snow all the way up there.

Reggie yawned loudly, either trying to indicate his sleepiness or to remind me that his teeth were the length of my arm. "Yeah, me, too, buddy," I said, thinking he was tired. But I was wrong. Apparently, he was distracting me while he checked my backpack for another sandwich. Bad enough he ate two of Ferrum Guts' sandwiches on the train. Salamander Spice didn't have quite the same effect on him that it had on Conch, fortunately, so it wasn't a big deal for his health, but it was a big deal for my stockpile of sandwiches. I brushed his nose away from my backpack and reminded him, "You already had a sandwich. I'll get you something when we find a room for the night."

Obviously the pokémon center was my first choice because it was familiar and I knew they'd be able to find a place for me for one night, but something else caught my attention instead. It was a building with a broad storefront and bright, flashing lights advertising games, shows, and prizes. There was also a smaller neon sign suggesting alcohol would be denied to anyone younger than twenty-one. I didn't care for the smell of that stuff anyway. Prizes were my goal, and poker was my game, ever since Craig taught me how to play against the Elder's wishes. He thought gambling would be an addiction I couldn't possibly resist. My defense? I don't gamble: I win.

The place was hopping, too. I know I mentioned the bright lights of the Cuprum Ranch, Hotel, & Casino as what drew me there, but really the whole town had a pretty bustling night life. A lot of it seemed focused on the casino. I wasn't the only one with aspirations of taking home one of those rare pokémon as a prize, but I was just about the only one trying it completely sober. The casino was in the east wing of the resort, which could be described as a curved hallway filled with card tables and roulette wheels. Off to the side was a section with rows of slot machines and craps tables. Everything was very colorful—all bright and warm to encourage good cheer and high stakes. The tables were burgundy, the machines were sky blue, the walls were golden, and the ceiling was decorated with designs of ivy and stars. It was a perfectly friendly place to lose a lot of money.

I started out by going to the cage and purchasing a starter pack of one hundred coins. And then I did spot one familiar face—someone I wouldn't expect to see drinking at a casino.

"Marshal Ray," I said as I approached the man in the cowboy hat. I couldn't believe the law enforcement officer was still wearing that hat. I thought it was just a way of keeping the sun out of his eyes in the desert. In fact, I think he was wearing the exact same charcoal suit as when I met him in Ferrum City. He was standing at the slot machine, placing coins in a regular rhythm but never actually looking at the machine. He was staring off into the center of the game room.

"Trainer Gus," he replied. He continued playing with only a glance back at me to acknowledge my presence. "I'm glad to see you got out of bed okay."

"I had to take four showers to get the sand out of my hair."

"Yeah, sandstorms out there can be pretty rough. You should consider checking in at the spa to pamper yourself for a day. Then again, if you lose enough money here tonight, they might let you do so for free."

"Is that the racket you're working on?"

He smiled and let out a soft chuckle, though still looking away from me. "I'm probly pretty close to it by now. Might get a free night in the hotel for myself. Be a nice change from sleeping out in the grass."

"How long are you in town?"

"Could be a few days, could be a few hours."

"I see." Yeah, he was definitely tailing someone. "Any luck finding that girl you asked me about?"

"I have a few leads."

"Yeah?" I looked around, trying to see what he saw. "Someone in here with a few dirty secrets?" One woman at the Blackjack table seemed suspicious. She was very pretty in an unapproachable kind of way. Her hair was a dull shade of red that matched her burgundy outfit nicely, plus she had a petite, fit body that must take hours to maintain the way she was knocking back the drinks. Aside from the fact that she was a few years older than I and probably wouldn't even give me the time of day, she had a fierce, cold look in her eye that actually made me want to give it a try just to see how it went.

Ray was pretty skilled. He took a look at me and figured out who I was looking at. "She's nothing to worry about. If she seems dangerous, it's because she fits the description of a runaway."

"A runaway? At her age? She's got to be... what? Twenty-one?"

"Probly. Ran away ages ago, if that's really her. Can't really do anything about that now, plus it's not my problem. But you see that guy next to her? What do you see?"

I noticed the guy. He was pretty unassuming in stature, but he had a shiftiness about him I didn't notice next to the cold shoulder the red-head was giving to everyone in the room. He wore simple clothes and he had a booklet in his jacket pocket he kept trying to check with subtlety. Judging from his expression, he probably thought no one saw it. He had to be a tourist convinced he knew how to beat the system.

"Well, his glasses may be fake. They hang pretty far down on his nose, but he makes no effort to push them back up to his eyes. And he's obviously an idiot: Those books don't do anyone any good in a casino."

"Good catch. Now what about this guy by the roulette wheel?"

That guy wore flamboyant clothing that cost more to clean and maintain than all of Natrium Village. The way he glanced around the room was casual enough, but it was the way he continued to smile at people and ogle the women despite the piles of money he lost with each spin that made it clear what he wanted.

"Well, he's obviously not here for the gambling. He's hoping to reel in a date by showing off his money."

"You're pretty good at this."

"My dad was a very judgmental guy. He was always telling me ways to notice if people are lying or hiding something."

"I'll bet that was a fun guy to grow up with."

"It's how I learned to bluff, which is how I will win tonight. So which of these guys are you spying on?"

"Why do you assume I'm spying on someone?"

"Please. The eye line? You're just pretending to play the slots. And you're drinking a ginger ale. What grown man in a casino would drink that unless he's on duty?"

"It's a good drink. I have an upset stomach."

"Yeah, right. But I understand. You can't share information about a sting with a kid. I'll leave you alone now." The instant after he said "alright" and continued what he was doing, I hoped to catch him off guard by pointing to the rich suitor and asked quickly, "Are you staking out that guy?"

"Yes," he replied a little too quickly.

Stunned, I said, "Really?"

He looked at me long enough to make a face. I took that as a "no."

"Is it the hairy guy over there?"

"Are you having fun?"

"A little."

Clearly he was trained to deal with annoying people, and he was vastly more patient than the Elder was. I'll bet Ray was a lot like me when he was a kid.

"I guess I'll go play some poker."

"Good game. Lot of talented players here."

"Aren't you going to tell me not to gamble?"

"The games aren't illegal. If you order any alcohol, then I may turn you over to the local police. If you're any good at poker, though, you might be able to win enough to get yourself one of the prize pokémon." He motioned me toward the cage where all the prizes were kept locked up.

"I checked it out when I came in," I told him. "I want an abra." Abra eventually grows up into alakazam, and if I had one as strong as the one Burton had, then he wouldn't be able to beat me so easily. Plus, I wouldn't have to play very long to win the extra hundred coins I needed.

"Don't you already have a psychic-type?" For a moment, I wondered how he knew that because I forgot he saw my pokémon in Ferrum. He was referring to Sigilyph, the only pokémon I had with an unspectacular nickname. The only one I don't remember obtaining. The only one that made me doubt myself as a trainer.

"Shoot for the steel-type," he continued. "It'll round out your team better than getting a second psychic-type."

"I'll take that under advisement." The cost for that one was 5800 coins, so it was going to take a lot more poker to get there.

So I left Ray there to lose his life savings at the slot machines and headed for the poker tables. My mind didn't fixate on Sigilyph or a new pokémon, though. I couldn't help looking around and wondering who Ray was spying on. Everyone seemed suspicious to me when I was trying to find a criminal. Even the dealer was a little too quiet as he performed the Faro shuffle instead of the riffle, probably due to the splint on his thumb. I'd bet he tried to rip someone off one time and got caught so they broke his thumb. Could he be the one Ray was watching? I'd have to keep my eye on that guy.

The game was Five Card Draw, and the group of players at the table I joined was pretty diverse. The woman to my right colored her hair bright pink, probably to distract people from noticing her tell: Although she chewed on a piece of bubble gum all the time, her chewing speed increased when she bluffed. The guy to her right grew his hair past his shoulders and pulled it into a braided ponytail, and he did the same thing with his beard. That was shorter, though. His big tell was only obvious because of his paranoid precautions. He was so convinced that one or more of the other players was part of a cheating conspiracy that he held his cards right next to himself the whole time… and when he bluffed, his nervous twitch caused him to stroke the corners of his cards.

But the obvious powerhouse was a balding man wearing a white coat that lacked even an ounce of dirt. He was the type of guy who never did any direct work himself. Obviously he had a good deal of money to his name—Ogden, it turned out. No poor man could afford a name like that without getting beaten up every day as a kid. He carried himself well, though, not just in the sense of poise but also in confidence. He initially greeted me with a proclaimed appreciation for instructing children in the fine art of poker. His tell? Before betting, his eyes always glanced at the pile of coins matching the actual value of his cards before he selected the value of his bluff.

I played by looking at my cards only one time and then talking constantly about nothing substantive until after the betting was complete.

Obviously, the woman had nothing better than a pair. She started the hand by betting ten coins, but after she traded in three cards, she knocked. Either she was bluffing a great hand or she was waiting on a bad hand. Braids was looking for a flush, but the way he stroked his last card suggested he probably missed by one card. Ogden, on the other hand, was looking for a straight, and he raised me every time. The other two folded after the first raise, but Ogden was trying to bluff me out. Too bad for him I was much too stubborn for that as I finally called him.

Grinning at the bald man, I asked, "So how'd it go, Ogden? Did you get the straight?"

He smiled evilly back at me. "What do you think?" He flipped over his cards one by one and read them to me. "Four. Five. Six. Seven. Jack." It was good to see him lose with a sense of humor. It was going to make taking his money that much easier and feel less cruel.

I tossed out my pair of kings that gave me the hand. "Let's keep this up, folks," I said as I raked in my new coins. "I've got my eye on a new pokémon from the coin exchange."

The next two hours went similarly. I didn't win every single hand, but I was always fully aware of when I was being bluffed and when I needed to cut my losses on a hand. At the end of two hours when I was too tired to continue playing, I wished everyone well and carried my heavy box of coins to the exchange counter.

"Hi! Are you enjoying your stay at the Cuprum Ranch, Hotel, & Casino?" The girl in the cage was very bubbly—the type of girl who overdid the smiling to the point she could just as easily creep me out as welcome me in.

"So far so good," I admitted. "I'd like to exchange these coins, please."

"Of course! What would you like? We've got a wide variety of prizes offered, including things for you and for your pokémon." I wasn't going to spend hard-earned casino coins on food or clothes or novelty pens for myself when I could get them cheaper anywhere else. I was more interested in the pokémon stuff. She listed a dozen technical machines and another dozen accessories that supposedly promote strength and growth in pokémon—a racket I totally figured I should get into when I finished training—but none of that seemed as awesome as a rare pokémon.

"I want the steel one," I told her as I pointed at the most expensive casino ball.

"Oh! Steel-dragon, actually," she corrected me as she retrieved what looked like the last of the casino balls with that designation. "It's a dragmor! They're very rare. You usually can't find them in this region except high in the mountains during the winter. That's their mating season!"

"If it's summer now, that explains why you have only one left. I'll take it."

"That's great! What are you going to name her?"

"Her?" I opened up the casino ball right there in the lobby to take a look. I knew it was a mistake by the way the cage girl immediately freaked out, but too late for that. What emerged from the ball was a lizard even bigger overall than Reggie, initially sitting upright before tumbling forward and causing a slight shockwave to carry through the ground. Her body was lean, yet her girth was exact from the base of her neck to the end of her spine, which protruded into a stubby tail with a blunt tip. Her legs were a bit scrawny, as were the wings that sprouted from the middle of her waist. Her most interesting feature was her head: The base of her neck had a bony ring around it, and her face was spiked and spread wide at the cheeks. Red, shimmering eyes and sharp teeth the size of my fingers sure raised my heart rate fast when she yawned with the same tone Reggie roars.

"You're beautiful!" I shouted excitedly, even though the cage girl didn't share my excitement. I slipped out my pokédex and pointed it at the heavy dragon that yawned like she'd been in pokéball stasis for months. Her yawn was actually forceful enough to rattle the cage.

_074-Dragmor_

_Dragon Pokémon_

_[Dragon] [Steel]_

_Average Height: 5'8"_

_Average Weight: 500.4 lb._

_This creature's almost impenetrable hide earned it the nickname The Walking Fortress. They were bred in ancient times as weapons of war._

"Weapons of war," I read and reread to myself a few dozen times. The dragmor was looking around lazily and yawning wide enough to swallow a chair, and then she stretched herself out and began harmlessly sniffing the cage where the cage girl looked terrified. Talking sarcastically to my new pokémon, I said, "You seem horribly ferocious. How will I ever tame you?" I placed my hand on her thick skin. She seemed to appreciate the contact because she turned her head immediately to push into it and wondered why I wasn't touching her with my other hand.

I looked at the cage girl—thinking it amusing that I finally found a situation that would stop her from smiling—and asked, "Does this resort have spa services for pokémon?" She nodded nervously. It was pretty obvious she wasn't a trainer. "Can you tell me where I go to register for all that? I'll probably need someone with big hands." She pointed me toward the front desk and pleaded that I pull the dragmor back into the casino ball first.

With my hands on her adorable lizard face, I pushed my nose up against the dragmor's snout and she sneezed right on me. It's a difficult sensation to describe, but I'll give it a shot: Imagine someone throwing a bucket of moldy water at you that shocks your body and numbs your face. I may have stood there frozen for a full minute before the cage girl pushed a towel into my hand. A voiceless "Thank you" was all I could offer her in return for the moment. When I got my face wiped off, I looked at the dragmor again and realized how eager she must be for a good stretch.

"I think I'll call you Eltanin," I decided. Motioning toward the exit, I told her, "Let's go get a little exercise. What do you say, Elly?" She may not have understood my words, but she could at least read my body language as she began pushing me to lead her outside. And her sharp snout sure got me moving quickly with her right behind me the whole time, knocking pictures off the walls and flowers off the end tables with her wings. It's okay, though, because thanks to my sponsorship, Team Omega picked up the tab.

At daybreak, I'd go to their headquarters to find out why.

* * *

><p><em>This chapter was just a little break from the action to show the Perioble version of the Game Corner and to give Gus a new pokémon. Not exciting, but it was fun. The next chapter (I promise) is when he'll finally meet Team Omega and hear their mission statement.<em>

_**Trivia:** Dragmor = dragon + armor_  
><em>Eltanin is a star with the scientific name Gamma Draconis.<em>


	20. Sketch

Sketch

"I've gotta admit," I spoke aloud to Reggie, "I expected this place to be less… mechanical."

We found the building with the big omega symbol easily enough. It was right there on the edge of the city, and nobody had any trouble pointing me and my conflacat toward it. But no one said anything about the headquarters being inside a giant factory. I seriously expected something more like an office building or a dormitory, or even one of those places with all the mirrors that show you funny reflections.

Instead, the building was two stories tall and occupied incredible ground space. If I had to throw out a single guess, I'd say it was near 300,000 square meters. It took me ten minutes to walk from one end to the other. In other words, it was a little intimidating to someone coming from Natrium Village. There were supply trucks backed up along a shipping dock and dozens of guys unloading equipment using pokémon laborers to handle the heavy lifting they couldn't do themselves. It could have seemed like animal exploitation except all the trainers were being active, too, and sharing the workload. They just weren't as good at it. I watched for a few minutes, ultimately with the conclusion that such coordination could only come from people completely comfortable and compatible with their pokémon. This had to be the right place to further my training.

There was a security guard at the front who didn't seem like a pushover. He had his eye on me from the moment I located the building. Every step I took in his direction raised his eyebrow a little higher.

"How high does that thing go?" I asked him.

He ignored me. "Can I help you?" He had a deep voice and a no-nonsense tone. That didn't usually mean _no _nonsense, though. It just meant _tricky_.

"Yes, you could. I would love for you to hold the door open, thank you for offering."

"Get out of here, kid."

Hmm. I needed something better than humor. "I'm actually here for a tour of the place. The school gave me this assignment where I…" I trailed off for two reasons: First, the look on the guards face made it clear he wasn't buying the story. Second, I realized I actually did have a legitimate reason to be there, so I shouldn't have to lie my way in.

"I'm a pokémon trainer, and Team Omega sponsors me. I just wanted to come meet someone with the organization and find out why."

"Is that the best story you've got?"

"No," I scoffed, "but it's the only one that's true. I think I've got a sponsorship card or a copy of my application somewhere in my sack." I started fishing around in there to find some form of ID.

The guard's phone buzzed, and after he looked at it, he said, "Apparently someone knew you were coming."

"Really? How?"

"Not my business. Head on in, but wait in the lobby for an escort to come get you. You won't be able to get past the turnstyle without authorization, anyway." Now, finally, he opened the door for me and ushered me and Reggie inside. Although I was growing more accustomed to having Reggie or Siggy follow me around outside of a battle, it still struck me as odd that other people weren't generally bothered by it. In the guard's case, he was probably used to seeing all the Team Omega trainers walking side-by-side with their pokémon.

The lobby was marked by plain white marble floors and black plastic chairs—not very comfortable, but also pretty inviting just by the sheer fact that chairs were present. There was a locked door with a sign on it warning of an alarm if I tried to force it open. That door was probably intended for deliveries that come through the front, like whoever refilled the vending machines. The wall had a bulletin board with a posted benefits policy and an explanation of safety guidelines for visiting personnel. Bo-ring! I just walked to the turnstyle and tried moving it myself. It budged only an inch before locking in place, and it did the same thing when I tried the other direction. The plate for scanning an authorization badge was pretty obvious, but my sponsorship card was just a piece of paper and didn't carry any electronic code the scanner would recognize. Peering through the turnstyle only gave me a glimpse of the break room. Refrigerators and vending machines, more plastic chairs with bags reserving places, and a couple of minccino bounding around cleaning the area.

Suddenly the door beside the turnstyle unlocked and slid open. I was pretty sure the person standing there was human, but from first glance, I wasn't sure he was sane. He was dressed a suit made of black silks with some gold trim around the chest. In case I didn't remember where I was, his chest had an Omega symbol on it. The weirder thing was that he covered his face with a mask. It was all white except for the giant, black Omega that marked the chin and rounded both eyes. His eyes were pitch-black, and I don't just mean the irises: I mean they were like clouded marbles. I couldn't see anything behind the mask except blackness. This guy was as sketchy as anyone I ever met.

"You must be Gus," he said.

"I am," I agreed. "Who are you?"

"We are the founder of Team Omega."

"We?" I looked past him, expecting to see more people with him, but there was no one except minccino in the break room. "Who else is here?"

"Only us. You may call us Valence."

"Valence?" Kind of a weird name, but it figured to be a weird one coming from the kind of guy who referred to himself in the plural form. "You all founded this organization?"

"Yes, and we are pleased for you to join us. We have been expecting you since last night's magnet train arrived."

"Oh yeah? How'd you guys know I was on the train?"

"It was no difficult deduction when you accrued expenses in Ferrum City yesterday morning and in Cuprum last night. Those facts aside, news spread of the events to take place on that train. Two young trainers began a battle between a magneton and a pachirisu when another trainer stepped in with a conflacat and quelled the battle almost instantly." Reggie's ears perked up when he was mentioned.

"They could have derailed the train!" I shouted defensively as Reggie snorted in agreement. "An electricity battle on a magnet train? How stupid do people get?"

Maybe I overreacted with how badly Reggie and I went after those kids and their pokémon, but in my complete defense, I was still a little shaken by that mirage I saw back in the Ferrum Desert:

_Suddenly the floor beneath me lost its steadiness. First it shook violently from side to side as if the track were loaded down with emetics (because it made me want to vomit). I could have wet myself when we suddenly hopped through the air. We hit the ground hard and everyone who was once upright now got a face-full of the seats in front of them. I ended up tumbling into the back door toward the dining car. A sharp pain shot through the center of my back, and my neck crunched a little from the train hopping.  
>And then we hopped again. This time, we didn't come back down. I could see from the windows we had fallen into the ravine below. Landing wasn't very descriptive of what was about to happen.<em>

When, only a day after experiencing the sensation of free fall from within a giant, metal tube, those two idiots started battling and the real magnet train shook like it was tackled by a dinosaur, I had no desire to experience a real-life version of that crash and so decided to put an immediate stop to it.

"We appreciate your vigor. You are correct: Such a battle could have affected the course of the train through the mountain ravine and created an event similar to the Magnet Crash that happened in this very region recently."

"What? You mean there was a real crash?"

"Yes. Approximately twelve years ago a magnet train passenger car from Stibium City to Cuprum Town crashed while passing through the Gallium Mountains south of here. Traveling through the Rubi Pass, the train skipped the track and fell into the ravine below, tragically killing everyone aboard."

"What caused it?"

"It was not a pokémon battle. Volcanic activity in Mount Palladium created violent turbulence within the track. Tragic, but unavoidable. But do not think on a single incident as representative of the safety of the magnet train. The remainder of the technology's history is incident-free. For now, allow us to show you around the facility and introduce you to our program." He was pretty to-the-point about it, but he was right that thinking about crashing on a train ride that already finished safely was a waste of time. In addition, when you run an organization as big as Team Omega, I guess prolonged small talk isn't a high priority. Of course, that begged the question: Why was I being greeted at the door by the organization's founder?

The facility was huge on the inside and segmented into seven different departments. Valence showed me the shipping docks first. Among the dozens of humans driving forklifts to load and unload trailers were heavy, strong pokémon wearing reflective vests. I never thought I'd see the day a machoke drove a forklift flawlessly around a warehouse. Most of the inbound shipping was supplies for the IT department and materials excavated by their various expeditions. The archaeology department sent groups out to search for remnants of civilizations past, and the findings were split between the archaeologists for research and the R&D department for restoration and application.

The IT department occupied a lot more space in the facility than I would have expected, and I'd never been in a place as hot. I know I just got out of the desert where I was hot and sticky and sweaty all day, but this was a humid, disgusting kind of heat that instantly formed sweat along every crevice in my body—especially the uncomfortable ones. The reason was the incredible quantity of electronic servers they used to facilitate the entire Omega network. With dozens of cabinets filled with servers running constantly, the temperature jumped incredibly high. The room was air-conditioned, but to help keep the costs down, they also had a few ice-type pokémon circulating icy air through the room. Considering the sweat stains I developed in so short a time period, they could use a few more ice-types in there.

The archaeology department was full of nerds! I mean, I can appreciate certain types of knowledge as well as anybody who watches Jeopardy, but seriously, every single person in that those offices wore glasses and lab coats and pocket protectors! And they had the kind of lab equipment with names out of a science fiction show about space travel, like subsonic transponders and mass spectrometers and telescopes. They were more interested in pieces of metal than they were in each other. I probably could have streaked through the place and no one would even look up from their magnifying glasses. According to Valence, they were studying technology lost over time to figure out what it was used for and whether it could be restored.

"Do they have a field team that excavates all the sites for this stuff?"

"The excavation department employs pokémon trainers with various specialties for that. That is the department with which you will be affiliated."

"Really? Why? Just because I have pokémon I'm in the process of training?"

"That is one reason. You also come highly recommended by a member of the department who has had some prior dealing with you. Would you care to meet her?"

"I guess so," I said with a shrug. Valence led me to the second floor, which only existed on the west end of the building, to a series of closet-sized offices with many fewer people than any of the other departments. (Actually, for reference, the safety department had the fewest members, but that's because it doesn't take a large staff to figure out that forklift racing and server Frisbee are high-risk behaviors.)

I recognized Fey right away. As if her snow-white hair weren't clue enough, she still wore sunglasses over her eyes even while she was indoors. I couldn't figure out what the deal was with those shades, but she was apparently in love with the idea of hiding. As far as I was concerned, her eyes were black and glossy and reflected my own face a little bit. She was dressed like she was ready to teach a class: nice blouse, gray skirt, matching jacket. Every single one of the windows in the room had a thin shade drawn over it to protect her sensitive, pale skin from the sun.

She came to the door and gave a short salute. "Good to see you, sir."

"You don't have to call me that," I told her. "'Gus' is fine."

Valence returned the salute and said, "You remember Gus."

"Tough guy to forget," Fey admitted. Her expression when she looked at me included a lot less respect and more amusement. I was okay with that. "Do you remember how we met?"

"As I recall, you were spying on me while I took a bath."

The problem with having skin as pale as hers was how obvious it was when she blushed. "I was hunting down a foamert and you beat me to it! How is it doing, by the way?" Trying to move the conversation along didn't help her normal color return as quickly as she wanted it to.

"Siggy's good. He evolved into a golfoam. He's pretty strong, too. He shoved open a door that had been rusted shut for a thousand years."

"I'm sure the room on the other side smelled wonderful," she replied with a smirk. "Are you ready to get involved furthering the advances of technology?"

"I can't even get the VCR to stop blinking 12:00."

"You still have a VCR?"

"The Elder puts a lot of faith in antiquities. That's why all the soda in Natrium expired forty years ago. It's like drinking a block of marble."

Fey shook her head in a failed effort to pretend that conversation never happened. "So… We may have finally uncovered the Gnome Temple in the caves just south of here. We won't be ready to explore until our General gets back from his trip, but we're building a plan to excavate tomorrow. We'll map out the ruins and return with whatever artifacts we can find. I hope you'll be ready to join us."

"The Gnome Temple? What, exactly, are we excavating?"

She motioned toward Valence and took a half-step back. "You're the expert, sir."

"Thank you, Fey. The Gnome Temple is one of eight ancient temples erected to house some of the most destructive power in history. Pokémon with power of legendary proportions were sealed within pokéballs of the highest technology and locked away to protect humanity. But we do not seek to disturb the pokémon themselves. We seek other specimens of technology within the temple."

"Okay…" I uttered hesitantly.

"Much of that technology has been lost as civilization flourished in Perioble. We hope to rediscover developments that may aid in propelling society forward and easing everyday life. In previous excavations, we have found early prototypes of the modern pokéball constructed during an era when apricorn fruits were hollowed out and used to capture pokémon. Our discoveries decades ago allowed us to develop a device that helps a pokémon grow through secondhand experience. More recently, we developed a smartphone with the combined capacity of a pokédex, a cellular phone, and a host of other computing technologies."

I wasn't sure how to respond. Advancing technology sounded like a great idea to me, coming from the town that time forget like I did. But the Elder was pretty clear about what would happen if these Temples hidden around Perioble were disturbed and the pokémon awakened.

"You seem distressed," Fey commented. "Are you worried about the powerful pokémon in the temple?"

"A little bit. The Elder of Natrium Village told me those pokémon are sealed in place to protect the balance of the ecosystem. Their disturbance affects the demeanor of wild pokémon and makes them attack people."

"Is that what he told you?" Valence asked me. "We assure you that is an ancient superstition merely intended to deter people who might seek out the power of these legendary pokémon for personal gain."

"That's what I thought!" I shouted. The news got me a little carried away and my tone came out more accusatory than I intended. I can't quite remember what Fey and Valence said next under my surge of rage. Here I had verification that the Elder kicked me out of my home for NO GOOD REASON AT ALL! He let a stupid superstition drive his kids away, and he probably still thought he was right to do so. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to go back to Natrium and slap the truth in his face just to see the look on his face when he found out I wasn't the only person who knew he was wrong.

"Gus!" Fey snapped me back to the present. "Are you listening?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm listening. Something about slap attacks, right?" Judging from the face she made at me, I'm pretty sure that's _not _what they were talking about.

Valence asked me, "Are you familiar with the region's history, Gus?"

"I can recite the genus-species names for about two hundred types of trees."

He wasn't the comedy type. "How much do you know about the great Machine War?"

"I feel like I've heard about it somewhere before."

"One thousand years ago, eight pokémon of unimaginable power rose and began warring with one another. Their confrontations were not minor battles waged directly against one another without consequence. Pokémon and humans alike were caught in the crossfire. Their power catalyzed natural biology into spontaneous evolution—mutating pokémon into previously unknown species and eliminating entire pokémon classes. Disregarding their surroundings in favor of their war of dominance, the pokémon of legend brought chaos upon the region and threatened extinction of innumerable races.

"However, the face of war spurred humanity into developing defensive technology, the most notable being the earliest way of rendering pokémon as electromagnetic energy and storing them within a handheld device."

"Pokéballs."

"Yes. Using technology to tame wild pokémon and training them to respond to battle commands, the people formed a defense against the warring pokémon. But other pokémon did not measure up in direct confrontation, and so technology continued to develop into stronger weapons. Many terrible weapons of war emerged. Towns torn asunder by battles prompted the earliest genetic experiments. If humans could wage war directly, lag time from command to action would disappear as battles become much smoother. But tests consistently failed. Humans mutated beyond control, and few survived the process.

"Efforts went into improving the effectiveness of pokémon in battle. If their weaknesses were covered, the power gap from the legendary pokémon would shrink immensely. Scientists developed machines capable of drawing out powers not innate in a given pokémon's natural growth. Those machines refined over time to become discs the size of one's palm."

"Technical machines," I realized.

"Yes. This rapid expansion of technology is what gave the war its name as the Machine War. But though much of the technology evolved over time, even more was lost when the legendary pokémon were captured and the war brought to a close. We merely hope to recover such lost technology and use it to continue developing mankind's relationship with pokémon. Together, we will usher in a new age of cooperation and convenience."

The man—or men, I guess—sure knew how to make a speech. Fey looked at me and asked, "What do you say, Gus? Will you join us?"

Something about suddenly being allowed to go into a forbidden temple made it less enticing. But still, I figured I owed Team Omega some of my time and help at the least, considering they were paying for my livelihood.

"Didn't you say we're not going until tomorrow?"

"The General in charge of the excavation will return to Cuprum this evening," Fey answered. "For now, I guess I can show you around here—introduce you to some of your coworkers."

"Or you may wander the town," Valence offered. "You have considered completing the pokémon gym circuit, correct? The Mineral Gym must certainly be a destination on your agenda."

I hadn't thought much about that. Another pokémon gym? And this one would be officially sanctioned. If I beat this gym leader in a battle, I'd finally earn myself a badge. I wondered if the leader of the Mineral Gym also downplayed his or her skill to make things a little easier for challengers the way Garfield did. Reggie looked at me with wide-eyed hope in his expression, so I guessed either he understood what we were saying and really wanted to go to the gym, or he thought maybe I'd have another sandwich he could steal from me.

"I like that idea," I said as I scratched Reggie behind the ears. "Maybe I'll go give the gym a challenge. Wish me luck."

"Take this with you." Valence extended his hand and held out something that looked like a pokédex turned into a cell phone. "This is a standard-issue smartphone given to all members of Team Omega—a Hermes. We will contact you in the morning with a time and location to meet with your excavation team. You should keep this with you always, perhaps in your satchel."

"Satchel!" I took the Hermes from him and dropped it into the sack where I kept my pokédex and pokéballs. _Satchel_ sounded so much more sophisticated than _sack_. I figured I should start using that term all the time. Actually, hearing the word finally got my brain moving on other terms. "Wait! Is that cooler than _attaché_?"

"More accurate," Fey answered. "Honestly, it looks like a plain, old sack."

"It's so much more than a sack. It's, well…" It was just a coarse, brown bag made of two pieces of cloth sewn together and strapped closed at the top with a rope drawstring. It was definitely a sack, but I couldn't go back to calling it that now that I had "satchel" in my repertoire. "I'll be at the gym if you need me."

I wanted to try defeating another gym leader in battle, but more important was an opportunity to clear my head. My heart was quick to jump on the train of thought headed to The-Elder-Lied-To-Me Village, but my head was taking me back to I-Don't-Know-These-People Island. Valence sounded incredibly confident in his story, but what if he was wrong? What if disturbing these legendary pokémon was just going to end up restarting the Machine War?

* * *

><p><em>First of all, thanks to <strong>WolfSummoner93<strong> for submitting Fey to the story. It's good to have her back for a few chapters._

_Here we have the first introduction of the story's plot. I'm sure many of you already know where things will go in the long run, but I'm hopeful I have a few events in the interim that will be less predictable. The next chapter, however, is not one of them. Gus will contemplate his first impression of Team Omega, spend a little time with another new member, and go to the Mineral Gym in hopes of obtaining his first badge._

_**Trivia:** I love puns. For proof, see the chapter's title and Gus's feelings about Valence._  
><em>Valence is a chemistry term indicating the number of bonds an atom can form with other atoms. It matches the theme of naming towns after chemical elements.<em>


	21. Stealth Rock

Stealth Rock

With a sudden CRASH! right behind me, I just barely ducked out of that tunnel in time to avoid being crushed by that rolling golem. Reggie was safe, too, for the moment. But he wasn't doing too well against these rocky pokémon, they didn't get much rockier than the boulder with arms that we called a "golem."

"Sorry, Reg. I think this is one you'll have to sit out." I recalled him into his pokéball and flipped another one from my side just as the golem was starting to stir and regain its senses. As my foaming pokémon formed from the contents of my second pokéball, an idea quickly formed in my head. If that trainer wanted to play Indiana Jones with me, we'd see how well he liked it in return.

"Siggy, give that golem a Foamy Punch!" My golfoam, with his infinitely flexible body, slid into the small gap between the golem and the stone wall it collided with and, with a heavy wind-up, planted his fist into the golem's rocky body. Overall, the makeup of its body probably protected it from much damage, considering Foamy Punch is a non-elemental attack, but I wasn't aiming for damage. I just wanted Siggy to send that round pokémon pummeling down the tunnel like an 8-ball headed straight for the corner pocket. That ought to distract the other trainer.

Finally I had a moment to catch my breath. The Cuprum Gym was unlike any I'd ever been in. Granted the list for comparison was a short one, but that didn't change the fact that this gym was a series of labyrinthine tunnels inside a portion of a mountain. As I approached the next intersection, I recognized the mark on the wall where Reggie's Flamethrower melted through a portion of the ore a little bit earlier. I was going in circles, and all to find one person. This was going to be tricky.

* * *

><p><em>Despite my reservations about teaming up with Valence and the rest of Team Omega, or perhaps in light of those reservations, I decided it would be a good idea to let off a little steam by going to Cuprum Town's Mineral Pokémon Gym. The gym was located on the south side of town where the mountain range began. It was a small little building that seemed to be nothing more than a wooden shack about a hundred meters away from the base of the nearest mountain. I figured maybe it was just a meeting place to get directions to the actual gym deeper in.<em>

_But inside I found two other trainers standing there with pokémon by their sides, listening to an elderly man who wore a long coat, a fedora, and sunglasses. Who says being dead keeps Humphrey Bogart from finding work?_

_"Ah, our third contestant!" the old man said excitedly. His energy level was obvious from the way he shook my hand, but his hand was all sweaty and clammy. It felt like sticking my bare palm in the open mouth of a shellder. "Now we can finally begin!"_

_"It's about time," one of the other trainers said. He didn't look like the patient type from the way he shifted his weight from one leg to the other repeatedly and continually folded and unfolded his arms across his chest. "Now can we do this?"_

_"Yes!" the old man said with his excitement still overflowing. "Now you three may challenge Mina for the right to a Copper Badge!"_

_There was nothing inside this little shack except the four of us and a single, cushioned chair. Well, there was a rug on the floor—oddly decorative considering the location. But then the old man slipped the rug aside and revealed a trap door. I should have guessed. "Let's begin!"_

_I think a little bit of his excitement actually faded when none of us did anything except look at one another. "Begin what?" the girl asked, clueless._

_"Silly me! I forgot to explain!" The old man rubbed his face as if to start over. "All three of you will head straight down this ladder. In the room below, you'll find three tunnels. Each of you takes a separate tunnel, and you'll all seek out Gym Leader Mina, located at the end of the maze. If you find her, you battle her and earn yourself a Copper Badge! But don't think it will be easy. Not only will you have to navigate the maze; there are also trainers with highly skilled pokémon lurking around. If you aren't careful, you and your pokémon might get knocked out before you even find Mina! So go have fun!"_

_The girl shook her head lightly and muttered, "You and I have very different views on fun."_

_"Sounds great to me," the guy said. "What happens if we eventually run into each other?"_

_"Only one trainer can challenge Mina today. You must be the fastest in order to be the lucky trainer! My advice is: If you see one another, go a different way. Battling one another will only weaken your pokémon before you get into your battle with Mina, and she should not be taken lightly if you want a chance at victory. Now go!"_

* * *

><p>The tunnels sure convinced me there was a lot more effort put into the gym than I realized at first glance. I'm a terrible judge of exactly how far I walked, but between all the tunnels and crossroads I discovered, these catacombs had to stretch at least a kilometer into the mountains. I bet Mina was waiting at the farthest point to the south. All I had to do was figure out how to put the sun on my right and I'd be headed in the right direction. And anyone ought to be able to figure out the problem with that.<p>

I hadn't seen the other two trainers since we split up into the three tunnels, but I did come across two of Mina's gym members, I think. I only saw one of them, who attacked me with a vanillite and a shedinja—two pokémon who threatened me pretty well before Reggie turned himself into my biggest threat by absolutely filling the tunnel with fire. Turns out he can scorch me pretty well when he's not careful. Then there was a second guy I never saw who sent a golem after me like a living boulder. Now I was lost, annoyed, and sweaty. It seemed like a good idea to wander around with Siggy for a while instead of Reggie, just to keep my movement a little more subtle and the temperature lower for a while.

We got rid of the golem, but I decided not to follow it back to its trainer, mostly because I wasn't concerned with battling another trainer. I just wanted to find the gym leader, wherever she went, and get out of this maze. I thought I'd have the opportunity to get Elly some battle experience, but most of these tunnels were much too thin for my dragmor to worm around with any ease. And I found out the hard way that the mineral deposits in the walls were too heavy for her to burrow through. Plus, the more she tried, the more I worried about a potential cave-in. The risk to me and her didn't seem worth it when I could just suck it up and find my way through the tunnels.

Siggy and I wound up in the hottest tunnel yet. More torches than I'd seen total so far lined the walls of this tunnel. It was like a sauna. I wondered if there were some significance to it, but then I figured it was probably just because I was heading deeper into the mountains and the heaviness of the ore absorbed more light. Assuming my conclusions were correct, the gym leader was probably located in the darkest area. At least that was a more useful assumption than "head south." If only the walls were lined with compasses…

I thought about sitting down for a minute on a perfectly-flattened rock when I changed my mind because there was some kind of giant hermit crab underneath that started moving just as I stepped next to it. I'm definitely not easily surprised, but that may have caused me to stumble backward and fall into the wall.

"Siggy, use Foamy—AAAH!"

Apparently there was a trainer wearing the type of camouflage that involves obsessively painting his skin and clothes to resemble the exact texture of the copper mine. And maybe when his eyes popped open and he grabbed my arm it scared me so much I peed myself just a little.

"Scare you?" he asked me with a stupid grin on his… face?

"What was your first clue? Siggy, use Foamy Punch on that thing."

"Use Rock Throw." That weird hermit crab swiped its claws straight into the wall and scooped out a great, big chunk of copper. In a single swipe! That's crazy! Even if the mine was old and some of the rocks were loose, that pokémon's strength was incredible. I got an idea for how strong when the rock it threw met Siggy's fist. Remember when Siggy was able to punch open a door that had been rusted shut for a thousand years? Well, his fist shattered that copper boulder, but he dropped his hand quickly like he may have injured it in that collision.

The camouflaged trainer helpfully warned me, "You're never going to beat a rock-type by using normal attacks. Can't do that many times before the bones in your golfoam's hand breaks."

"I know," I snapped back. I hated hearing him say out loud what I already figured out. Plus I hated making a silly decision that caused Siggy to hurt himself. The only decision seemed to be recalling him into his pokéball for now.

"So what's next?" the trainer goaded. "Better hurry and choose before my crustle gets bored and throws the next one directly at you." He chuckled to himself and then quickly assured me, "I'm just kidding. That's against the etiquette rules of pokémon battling. But still, don't try to run past us because you won't get far. You don't get to skip past us if you want to battle Mina."

"I don't skip challenges. And I definitely don't want a bug that size chasing me through the tunnels. Bugs are weak to fire, right?"

"Yeah, see how that works," the trainer remarked sardonically. See, I wasn't sure if that hermit crab thing was part rock or not—and I forgot to charge my pokédex the night before—so I tricked the trainer into telling me whether or not Reggie would have an easier time taking that thing down. It was risky, anyway, since rocks would hurt him even more than they hurt Siggy. That gave me one good choice.

"Alright then. Let's go, Conch!" A moment later, my merman pokémon appeared in the dull light of that copper mine. He flopped around excitedly, looking really happy not to be in the water.

"I think your fish is suffocating." I suppose excitement and suffocation are difficult to distinguish. "You really think he'll…"

"Use Bubblebeam!" Conch began sputtering heavily and quickly, but instead of just spitting all over the floor, he spewed a high-speed barrage of bubbles thick enough to fill the tunnel. The trainer told his crustle to use Smack Down, which apparently meant throwing that giant rock it was carrying on its back. That one was even bigger than the rock scooped out of the wall. But Conch's barrage was relentless, and the rock crumbled in the air. Pieces of it rolled down the tunnel as the poor crustle felt the constant pounding of powerful bubbles battering it from all sides.

I couldn't help chuckling a bit when the crustle staggered back and Conch was still ready to go again. "That'll do," I told him. I recalled him into the pokéball and looked down the tunnel. Before leaving, I asked the trainer, "Care to give me any tips?"

"Just that Mina's probably going to kick your butt."

"Any idea where that might happen? That's really the information I need."

"It's a maze. Find your own way."

"Thanks for the help. You're indispensable."

So I started my trek through the tunnel by myself, but at least there was only one way to go for now. Well, actually, there were two ways to go. And they both looked almost identical. Stupid crustle and its crazy meticulous trainer got me all turned around during that battle. I looked in both directions for a moment while that trainer gave me a stupid grin.

"Not sure which way to go?"

"You're very observant. I guess you've seen a lot of young trainers in here get turned around and end up going the wrong. Maybe you notice a few distinctions in our body language. Or maybe your first clue was when I asked you for directions just a minute ago."

"You're kind of mean."

"And you're dressed like a rock." Ooo! That triggered an epiphany. When Conch busted that boulder in mid-air, the rock shards all seemed to roll in one direction. I found the trail of them on the floor. Presumably, that would lead me deeper into the mine, and that was the direction I wanted to go.

Actually, I scooped up a handful of rocks and took them with me as I progressed through the tunnels. Just as I expected, I came across another crossroads very soon. This one was a four-way stop. But when I dropped those rocks, surely enough they tumbled ever so gradually in one direction. That's the way I decided to go, although I got a little nervous about the fact that the tunnel got narrower as I walked.

About twenty meters in, I encountered a stalagmite that reached all the way to the ceiling of the tunnel—a distance of almost four feet. It would be nothing remarkable except it started moving! I jumped back to avoid getting smacked by swaying limbs and had a chance to see the stalagmite better. It looked like a big, petrified tree with a face glaring at me. I recognized this one as a sudowoodo, which I knew more about than a crustle. For example, I knew that Conch would probably be able to incapacitate it pretty easily, but he was struggling enough to survive above water for so long. I made a calculated decision to hold off on calling him back until I found Mina.

Instead, I brought Siggy back out for another hurrah. With a little distance between us and the sudowoodo, I quickly rubbed a super potion on his wounded hand. I doubt it was any kind of miracle cure, but if it helped him deal with the pain any better I'd feel somewhat less guilty about the almost relentless way pokémon get used in battles. With my choices limited like they were by type and sheer size, I was really quite stuck using only Siggy and Conch in this gym. The risk to Reggie was too great and Elly wouldn't get anywhere.

Oh yeah… I guess I was also limited by sentiment and fear.

The sudowoodo struck first, charging forward and throwing all its weight into a wooden body slam. Siggy managed to squat and lean to one side and avoid the brunt of the assault, and his flexible body seemed to absorb the impact better than mine would have, but he still got hit and he looked clearly affected by it.

"Use Counter!"

From his squat position, Siggy popped back into the sudowoodo's lower belly with such force he ended up shoving that tree into the mine wall hard enough to shake chunks of the tunnel loose. It looked like he dealt out at least twice the pain he suffered from that exchange. The sudowoodo stumbled back and keeled over. It was still moving around, but its behavior was clearly less aggressive now as it sulked into the corner and immobilized itself.

"That was a good move, Sig," I told my golfoam while I rubbed another super potion on him. "You rest up now. I'll get you to the pokémon center soon." I rubbed his slimy head and recalled him into his pokéball for a well-earned reprieve. He could probably handle another battle if needed, but my preference was not to tax him any more than I already did.

Given my track record, every step I took through that dark and narrowing corridor was slow, cautious, and fraught with nervous pokes at every rock I came across. I'm nobody's fool, and there was no way those creepy rock pokémon were sneaking up on me by hiding in plain sight again!

Actually I didn't encounter any other secret pokémon. The corridor popped me out in front of an alcove with a table and a chair carved out of stone. Two bigger tunnels opened up on either side of me, but I didn't need to look any further. I was pretty sure the woman sitting in that chair was trying to fly a kite inside the mine, and that kind of behavior is only considered acceptable by people of high social status—like gym leaders. She had curly blonde hair down to her chest and she wore a sort of breathable toga-robe outfit that was white on the top and had a layered skirt with each layer a different shade of red or yellow or blue. Despite the springy attire, she had a thin, golden scarf wrapped around her neck twice, and it was still long enough for the ends to flow over the edge of the table.

"You found me," the woman spoke eerily. She looked at me liked I'd crossed pits of fire just for the chance to touch her hand or hear her speak. "Congratulations, future champion."

After a moment to get past my surprise, I cleared my throat and said, "Clearly you're talking to me because I am a future champion of pokémon. Also I'm a current champion of javelin throw retrieval. No one fetches javelins after they're thrown better than I do."

"Well, then I'm obviously in the presence of greatness." I liked this woman. She had a fun air about her, and not just because she was willing to admit my greatness. She was obviously some kind of weird to be hanging out deep in a copper mine all the time. The air was pretty hot and stale, which explained the light clothing she wore. I'd be feeling miserable if I'd been paying attention to myself instead of the maze.

But now, I was at the end of that maze. "Are you Mina?"

"I am. You are Gus, a member of Team Omega, aren't you?"

"Really just sponsored by them. I don't know how much of a member that makes me."

"Well, if they're paying your bills, they probably consider you a member. And you seem pretty skilled to find me so easily without following the string."

"What string?" She shook the roll of string in her hand—the roll that made me joke about her flying kites in the maze. Apparently, that string ran the length of the maze down the main path. As I traveled, I just kept taking the darker paths that sloped noticeably because I figured those were the two big cues. Or I could have paid attention a little higher off the ground and seen the string threaded along the wall that led straight to Mina.

"You didn't waste your effort," the gym leader assured me as she stood. "Following the string was the easy way, but it was available only at the cost of confronting stronger trainers and pokémon. The route you selected allowed you to keep your pokémon better rested, even if you did have to use a few survival skills to get here. Actually, your co-participants have already been eliminated from the competition. Their paths led them through some tough battles which they ultimately lost despite some truly amazing battles."

That was a pretty wicked idea in my head. I was smarter than both those other trainers who took the maze challenge? Well, I already knew that, but now I knew it for certain because I took the easy way while they took the hard way and lost. I could hear some wild rumbling farther down one of the tunnels that was either a mine collapse or a battle winding down.

"So I get to battle you now?"

"We've been battling all along."

"We have?"

"Of course. There are no wild pokémon wandering this mine. Everyone is trained by me, either directly or through my trainees. That sudowoodo you battled was one of my battlers. I think I hear another one coming right now."

The rumbling down the tunnel got louder and ended in a loud CRASH! A boulder slammed into the corner, but it shifted its position and began barreling straight for me. It was that golem that almost crushed me before. That must be the roaming pokémon Mina trained that ended up defeating those other two trainers, whether by itself or in tandem with other pokémon. No! It didn't matter how it happened! What mattered is that I was the only one left to win a Copper Badge, and I had to beat this golem to do so!

"Let's go, Conch!" My mergeant was excited to come out of the pokéball again, but I could see he needed to be back in the water soon. As mostly a fish, he wasn't really suited to battling on land. His gills can't absorb oxygen without water surrounding them, and spitting on himself wasn't good enough. The battle was likely to be a quick one, though, because Mina said her pokémon were already scattered through the mine for additional battles. We already took down her sudowoodo, for one. This golem would be a second. The others had to be knocked out by now.

Of course, there was the issue of all that speed the golem accumulated during its long-running Rollout. "We need a really powerful Bubblebeam," I told Conch. "All the speed and power you've got, okay?"

Just like the last time, Conch spewed enough bubbles to raise a blinding veil of mist throughout the tunnel. Each one popped hard against the golem as it powered its way toward us. The pain of the water attack was apparent as the golem flinched with each strike and lost track of its trajectory, suddenly rolling into the wall and ricocheting back to the other wall. Finally it flipped over after a failed attempt to climb the wall only a meter away from Conch. The golem was splayed on the ground for a moment, shaking off what must have been a very upset stomach. Do golems even have stomachs? Ah, probably not the best time to discuss it.

"Use Self Destruct," Mina requested. I wasn't sure if she was serious about using an attack that sounded as explosive as Self Destruct in such a confined space, but I pretty much got my answer when she took cover behind that stone table.

"Use Fish Kick. Quickly!"

As soon as the golem got to its feet, it closed its eyes and began to squeeze its body tight as if it were about to rip a big one. It may be getting tired, but it still had a lot of power left if we let it blow. Fortunately, Conch had enough strength left to initiate his signature water attack: the Fish Kick Propping himself up with a display of forearm strength only seen by break dancers and Popeye, he whipped his tail around front and slammed into the golem with enough force to shake loose all the water particles in his tail and create a light mist that was absolutely welcome in this stale mine air. The golem shot back through the tunnel it came from like a billiard ball. The collision with the back end of the tunnel shook it so much that's where it released its Self Destruct energy, far away from us.

Mina seemed disappointed. "That was unexpected," she admitted. I think she may have been looking forward to the explosion more than anything else.

"Is that it?" I asked. "We beat the last of your pokémon, right?"

"Not yet, Gus." She reached into her toga and tried to make me lose track of the battle while she pulled a pokéball. "I always keep one with me to guarantee a real pokémon battle for whichever challenger reaches me. Go, Baki!"

The pokémon she released looked to be six feet tall—or maybe only five feet plus one foot it hovered over the floor. Its body was stout and black, with stubby legs and arms shaped like cannons. Its head was enormous and covered with a ring of pink eyes that circled its entire head. Obviously this thing was literally able to see out of the back of its head. Actually, the way it kept spinning around I wasn't sure which side _was _the back of its head.

"And Baki would be a…?"

"You don't know what a claydol is?"

"Ah, of course. Ground and psychic. I read about it somewhere. I just didn't remember it. So… fire's still out. I guess I'll have to switch to Elly to keep a fighting chance." As soon as I looked down at Conch, I became aware that he was gasping heavily. I'd heard the sound the whole time, but I didn't put it together until just then. It wasn't quite a sound like he was suffocating. More like… he was learning how to breathe.

I'd seen this kind of thing twice before. Conch was evolving.

His upper body expanded as he gained some muscle mass in his shoulders and chest. His head elongated a bit as his face thinned, giving him the clear look of having a fish head. But his tail underwent the biggest change. It shortened tremendously as the mass redistributed itself into two sturdy legs. His feet were still webbed, though the scales seemed to draw into his leg significantly and give him a fleshy appearance. I couldn't believe it, but Conch was actually evolving to survive on land!

"There has to be enough battery left for this," I decided as I pointed my pokédex at him.

_055-Fishtain_  
><em>Lagoon Pokémon<em>  
><em>[Water]<em>  
><em>Average Height: 4'2"<em>  
><em>Average Weight: 262.4 lb.<em>  
><em>By shrinking its gills and growing lungs, fishtain is able to survive both on land and underwater.<em>

I didn't get time to check out the details before my pokédex shut itself off. But this was awesome! My excitable water pokémon adapted to his preferred environment and made himself much more useful on land. He took to his feet very quickly, stumbling only a couple of times before he was able to dance in place like he'd been bipedal all his life. He looked ready to rumble!

"Just remember," Mina warned me: "A pokémon that just evolved is often weakened by the process."

"According to the pokédex, mergeants store a lot of energy right before evolving. I think Conch will be just fine. But you should also remember that ground-types are often weakened by water attacks."

"True enough. But Baki is also a psychic-type. You'll have to get to him before you can hurt him. Do you have what it takes?"

Baki struck first when Mina called for Extrasensory. His head began spinning around 360 degrees while every one of his pink eyes shone brightly. If that weren't creepy enough, Conch became very tense suddenly, as if gripped by some invisible force. Both pokémon shook violently for a moment, but only Conch showed any kind of negative effect. He swooned as noticeably as if his head had been squeezed in a vice.

"Use Bubblebeam!" I shouted to my new fishtain. But he flinched at the command instead of completing the move. The Extrasensory attack did a number on him. "Bubblebeam!" This time Conch was able to get his head straight. He took in a deep breath and began to spew a high-speed stream of bubbles, much larger than they were when he was a mergeant, and moving much faster.

"Use Earth Power!" Baki dropped to the floor and released a good bit of force into the ground. A small burst of lava popped out of the ground in front of him and fried many of the bubbles headed toward the claydol. Then another burst a few feet ahead, followed by another in rapid succession right in front of Conch. Finally one exploded directly underneath my fishtain, shaking him down to the ground and drenching him in dirt and magma. But Baki didn't get away unscathed: Those bubbles he didn't pop slammed into him pretty hard. It was difficult to read pain on his face, but for a moment he couldn't levitate as high as he usually did. That was a sign of pain, I think.

"Ancient Power." Mina spoke more calmly now that Conch looked beaten. "Three attacks should finish this." She could be right. Baki's whole body seemed to shine with incredible power.

"Rolling Kick, Conch!" While Baki was building energy, Conch pushed into the air using the strength in his new legs and somersaulted along the floor, planting his legs into Baki's gut. The force of the attack so surprised Baki that this time he flinched and stopped mid-attack. "Now finish it with Fish Kick!" Conch moved to a squat position and then pushed up hard with his powerful legs, completing a full backflip in the air while slamming his foot into Baki's chin and trailing a high-speed blade of water behind his legs. That attack shoved Baki into the ceiling, where he lost his ability to levitate and slammed right back down into the ground. After an attack like that, he was much slower-moving and struggled to get back up.

Then again, I may have mistaken as pain what was actually just a lack of legs to help him get back up. After swirling around on the floor for a moment, Baki did a kind of roll maneuver to climb the wall just until he got his levitating spinning-top-like peg-leg over the ground and took to the air again. I reeeeally thought that would have done more damage.

"Use Psyshock."

Baki didn't move any differently from his previous motions, but suddenly Conch was flung into the wall just past my head. He was pinned there for a moment when something started pelting him repeatedly. I couldn't quite make out what it was, but it was relentless as it struck Conch from all sides seemingly simultaneously. And while I thought it would be a short attack, it just kept going and going until finally I had to recall Conch into his pokéball. His evolution was pretty awesome, but that claydol had too much power behind it.

"You're not out yet, are you?" Mina asked.

That was a tough question. I could use Reggie here because his biting attacks would be effective against a claydol, but he wouldn't do well being hit by some of those ground attacks. Technically I could summon Elly, but if she couldn't move too well, then even with her stamina, she'd just be a sitting dragmor. Siggy was already done for the day. That left me only one choice. I was still scared of the idea, but right at that moment, I finally decided I wasn't being fair. I went through the trouble of catching it: I really ought to raise it right.

I lost track of how long I spent staring at that pokéball before Mina got my attention again. "Oh! Right. Come on, Sigilyph." A moment later the red energy comprised a living, flying glyph. The sight of it still stung a little, but I had to admit, it looked like a fighter. It seemed to know already that we were in a battle.

"Another psychic-type," Mina noted. "This battle should be intriguing."

My assessment of the situation was that I had the edge because she was on her last pokémon, and Baki was already wounded by Conch. Of course, Baki was not only in his element because of home field advantage, but also because we were inside a mine shaft and he was a ground type. Sigilyph was a flying type without any room to maneuver.

"Whip up a Sandstorm," Mina commanded of her claydol. Baki's entire body began spinning rapidly, and then dust and debris from the walls began whipping around at high speeds. It was a thick sandstorm, too. I lost sight of Mina immediately, and less than five seconds passed before Baki disappeared. And I wasn't even sure what move to retaliate with!

"Um…? What kind of psychic moves are there?" That was just great, Brain! I bet it quit right then as a passive-aggressive way to hurt the Sigilyph I was so scared of. It wasn't the pokémon's fault I suffered heat stroke!

But then I noticed Sigilyph wasn't getting hit by the sandstorm. It was just hovering there with one eyes trained on the spot where Baki disappeared and its other eyes darting around as if assessing the environment for an appropriate response. I couldn't figure out what it was doing at first. Was the sandstorm naturally held back? No, that wasn't it. If anything, the sandstorm was pushing forward, but it reached a certain point and seemed to reflect backward.

"Wow. That's quite a shield," I commented dryly.

"That's a strong Reflect," Mina said. Her voice was tough to hear over the roar of the sandstorm. "Use Extrasensory to get around it!"

I knew that move, but I didn't know any kind of counter to it. I just watched and waited for Sigilyph to get hit by a psychic wave, but nothing happened.

"What's wrong, Baki?" From the sound of it, it wasn't just me unable to notice a psychic attack. Baki never let one go. Why not? And why was the sandstorm easing up? With every passing second, the sandstorm lightened dramatically until it faded completely. Baki was on the other side settled on the ground, leaning on the wall for support. He wasn't unconscious, but he definitely looked beaten down. What could do that to him? Wasn't he pretty much immune to the negative effects of that sandstorm?

Suddenly I heard it. With the sound of the sandstorm gone, I could hear a soft noise that sounded roughly equivalent to dragging fingernails across five different chalkboards. It was hard _not _to hear it! What in the world was that noise? Is that what prevented Baki from using his psychic attack? Was Sigilyph using some kind of synchronized noise to interfere with the claydol?

When Sigilyph relaxed and turned back to look at me, I was almost without words. "Dude, you are one frightening creature. Remind me never to get on your bad side." As I lifted the pokéball to recall my creepy pokémon, I added, "Good work, though. Thanks." Now I was even more scared of him. I didn't even give any commands. How powerful was that sigilyph?

"Impressive," Mina said as she laid her hand on top of her pokémon and recalled him into his pokéball. She stood and gave me a little half-amused smile. "Congratulations, Gus. You earned yourself a Copper Badge." She held out a brownish, circular badge.

"Impressive," Mina said as she laid her hand on top of her pokémon and recalled him into his pokéball. She stood and gave me a little half-amused smile. "Congratulations, Gus. You earned yourself a Copper Badge." He held out a brownish, circular badge.

And I'm not sure why I make these arguments, but I said, "Really? I only beat three of your pokémon. It feels like I got off easy."

"It's true that your cohorts defeated and weakened some of my battlers for your pokémon. Maybe they got off a little easy, but you went through the effort of finding your way here by yourself, and did so much faster than anyone else. Personal growth and training is just as important as the growth of your pokémon. And your mergeant even evolved."

"But it feels weird wearing something that says I beat you if I didn't beat you at full strength."

"This is how I choose to battle," she confessed. "At most gyms, you must defeat a few trainers before you must then defeat the gym leader. Here, I reverse the tables and attempt to be the one to defeat three young trainers. I failed; I only defeated two. You earned this badge because you taught me that my pokémon and I are not as strong as I want us to be. Letting you broadcast our loss gives me motivation to be stronger."

In retrospect, I still don't know if I like that explanation, but it made sense—after all, I was trying to weaken my own chances by declaring everyone had to fight me head-on with full strength instead of accepting that they were all trying to help me grow. Maybe part of me was waiting for that perfect battle where everyone fights with all imaginable talent, exchanging blow for blow ultimately ending with a victory by whomever strikes first. There's a chance I was idealizing the pokémon battle. In reality, trainers had good days and bad. This was one of my good days. My proof? I got a Copper Badge!

* * *

><p><em>I'll admit this fight wasn't as visually satisfying as the sharpedo, but I'm happy with it. I really like the Fish Kick and all the flipping Conch keeps doing. I guess it comes from watching Power Rangers as a kid. I'll take any feedback on the fights if someone has an opinion. Next time, Gus will meet the Omega General who will lead him on his first mission into the recently discovered Gnome Temple. What could await him in there?<em>

_**EDIT:** If you are reading this starting from 10/22/2012, then you read the extended version in which I added to the end of the fight. It makes the evolution less convenient and helps establish something for the near future. Plus it's a chance to see Sigilyph in its awesomeness!  
><em>

_**Trivia:** Fishtain = fish + captain  
>This continues the trend of naming this aquatic line after army ranks. Technically, captain skips a whole bunch of ranks and makes Conch an officer. But it would have been quite silly to call the next evolution a "staff fishgeant," don't you think?<br>_


	22. Worry Seed

_**Note:** I changed the ending to the previous chapter. If you saw Conch end the battle with the claydol, then you should reread the last few paragraphs before starting this chapter._

* * *

><p>Worry Seed<p>

Stairs are not usually on my list of the world's worst inventions. I would normally put the pay toilet and the Snuggie-for-Pikachu at the top of that list. But apparently the Cuprum Gym sent me more than two hundred meters below the surface before I found Mina. Two hundred meters of stairs is not a lot of fun to climb. After a half hour of wandering through the mine, the last thing I wanted was to walk two football fields vertically in a rocky sauna while the sun bore down on me.

"She could at least spring for an elevator," I said to Sigilyph as he carried me straight up the shaft so that I didn't have to walk. I still wonder if his wings were really doing all the work or if he used his psychic powers to carry me, but it was a lot easier than walking either way.

Maybe Sigilyph's overwhelming power is what impressed me, but he was starting to grow on me. It was about time I started giving him a fair chance in my battles. I watched his wing movement and felt his firm grip on my arm as we broke through the opening of the barrow and into the mountainous terrain. Can you believe there was a sky bucket on the outside of the stinkin' hole that carried me gently back to Cuprum Town with two of the gym members?

After all those stairs, I ended up gliding back to town with two of the trainers from the gym. Neither of them was someone I battled, but one guy wore a hoodie with the Omega symbol on it. I figured there must have been lots of people in this town who worked either for or with Team Omega. I may have seen that particular guy before. His beard was big enough to hide a pizza and stuck out of the hoodie like grass sprouting from the sidewalk. The other guy wore colors similar to the walls of the mine, so he was clearly going for a stealth effect without the psychoses involved in painting his entire body to look like a rock.

"You the guy who won the Copper Badge?" the hairy guy asked me. He seemed like he was trying to make polite conversation since we had a couple minutes to kill before we reached Cuprum Town.

"I did."

"That's impressive," the stealth guy said. "Mina's claydol is the toughest pokémon I've ever seen. You must have had something amazing to beat him."

"I did. It was a three-day-old burrito I was carrying around in my pocket. The scent had Baki intoxicated the whole time while my pokémon whittled him down with squirt guns."

He thought I was serious. "I never tried a strategy like that." He looked to his hairy friend and asked, "Do claydols even eat? They don't have mouths."

"I think they absorb minerals through touch," suggested the hairy guy.

"Maybe they imagine food with their psychic powers," I offered jokingly. Still, they seemed to think I was being serious and unimpressive.

"That's not how psychic powers work," the hairy guy said. "You can't just pretend to feel fed and magically be completely nourished."

"What about those Zen guys who move boulders with their minds?" asked the other guy. He pointed to me with his thumb and said, "Don't mess with this guy. None of us have been able to beat Baki yet in a duel. Just look at that sigilyph. See how intense the colors of the wings are? Kid's got to be a pretty good trainer."

Fortunately, Hoodie Harry didn't have to develop a comeback. We reached the end of the ride at that moment and he was the first to offload, leaving me to thank Stealthy Stu for the compliment and make my way to the pokémon center. Out of the corner of my eye, though, I'm sure I caught sight of a cowboy hat disappearing behind the Pokémart. A double take didn't give me any extra information, and when I hurried to the corner, I didn't see which way he went, but I was certain that was Marshal Ray showing up again. Why, I wondered. What was so interesting about me that he might follow me around?

And then I remembered where I saw Hoodie Harry before.

_"Are you staking out that guy?"  
>"Yes," he replied a little too quickly.<br>Stunned, I said, "Really?"  
>He looked at me long enough to make a face. I took that as a "no."<br>"Is it the hairy guy over there?"  
>"Are you having fun?"<br>"A little."_

Marshal Ray was staking out the casino when I went in, but he wouldn't tell me who he was watching. And then he happened to be watching the gym at the same time as Hoodie Harry came out of it? Too much to be coincidence. A marshal on duty rarely does things by accident. Could Hoodie Harry be the link to that criminal girl Marshal Ray was tracking? I wondered if maybe I could help with that.

Good thing _someone _had connections to Team Omega so he could follow the guy around.

First I needed to stop at the pokémon center, and I saw yet another familiar face. Standing there with a lavender ninetales by her side was a young girl with medium-length brown hair, a green jacket, and a small bag over her right shoulder. I could tell from her body shape and the eerie ninetales that Kelly from Kalium Town had made her way to Cuprum Town.

"Gus!" she said with surprising vigor when she saw me. I remembered her being quieter than that. "I figured you'd be through this town eventually. How are you doing?"

"It's nice to see you, Kelly. I can't say I expected you here."

"Well, I got a little bored training in Kalium, so I decided it was time to try something new for a little while." She had a weird little grin on her face when she spoke to me. "Have you been to the pokémon gym yet?"

"I just got out," I told her. Just for good measure, I showed her my satchel where I pinned the badge.

"Congratulations! Your pokémon must be getting really strong!" She looked at Sigilyph and was somewhat awestruck at his appearance. Funny, because he still creeped me out a little with those three independent eyes always wandering every which way.

"They are." With a glance at her ninetales Kira, I said, "Actually, I'll bet Siggy would love a chance to see Kira again if you feel like waiting for a moment while I give these guys to the nurse." I withdrew Sigilyph into his pokéball and grabbed my other pokémon.

"Absolutely." She was being awfully agreeable. Her jacket was zipped halfway and had a pokéball logo on the left side, and she had her hand on Kira's head, occasionally scratching between her ears. There was a single, black band on her middle finger on her left hand that didn't reach all the way around her finger. Her complexion was slightly darker than before. Maybe traveling was good for her because she looked a lot happier than the last time I saw her. Her brown eyes lit up as I handed my pokémon over to the nurse and then accepted them back.

"What have you been up to?" I asked her cautiously. I half expected her to regale me with grandiose stories about how she finally battled Garfield and crushed him, and then she went on a world-rending tour in which she and Kira obliterated every opponent they met.

"Just wandering." Hmm. Much less eventful than I envisioned. But I felt like she had to be hiding something from me because she just kept beaming. "Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"That's next on my agenda," I said. Thinking about how excited he'd be, I popped open Siggy's pokéball and figured it was his turn to follow me around for a bit. Just as I suspected, that foamy little romancer immediately recognized Kira and rushed over to nuzzle her side. She didn't exactly return his affection, but she did show signs of familiarity as she licked his head once. "Aw. That's cute."

"Siggy's as affectionate as ever," Kelly commented. "He's so adorable. Too bad he isn't a fox pokémon."

"No kidding. I can't imagine what their kids would look like—half fox, half slug." I was glad Kira followed us to lunch or else Siggy might have just abandoned me there. We stopped by a hot dog cart and got a couple of items to fill our bellies and the bellies of our pokémon. Siggy wasn't much of a carnivore, so I got him a salad. For a full-grown ninetales, Kira didn't eat much. Maybe it was manners or maybe it was self-control, but she scarfed up two hot dogs sans buns and was satisfied. On the other hand…

"You sure can eat," Kelly teased me.

"Just because a man eats four supreme hot dogs with the works?"

"You're still technically not a man yet."

"Right. I'm a boy _growing _into a man, and that requires lots of calories." And if it took three napkins to clean my face completely, that was just a repercussion I was ready to live with.

As it turned out, Kelly left Kalium shortly after I left the gym. She spent a few days walking the trails through the meadowlands and into the steppe until she got to the Cuprum Pokémon Ranch, which was really the primary _daytime _attraction of the hotel and casino I went to the previous night. She spent some time learning how to ride horseback and even felt like she should get herself a ponyta for journeying on some of those long trails.

"Tell me what happened to you when you left Kalium."

As soon as she said it, I wished she hadn't. I remembered that jerk with the alakazam and how he actually called Clendine—a legendary pokémon!—into a battle against me, and she swept me into the sea. That's how I ended up stranded in the desert. I debated whether I should tell Kelly about that, but something about her expression changed. She was still smiling, but it looked more forceful, like she was intentionally trying to make me feel comfortable about a situation she knew was exactly the opposite.

I responded instead with, "What did you hear?"

With a somewhat evasive approach, she winced before saying, "I heard you got swept into the river." She continued to tell me that onlookers saw the battle between me and some biker-looking guy, how I defeated the alakazam but got completely overwhelmed by some giant fish pokémon.

"What happened to the guy I was battling?" I asked her.

"No one was sure. He disappeared, too, probably also swept into the river. If you survived, though, I suspect he did, too."

"I should think so. _His _pokémon was the one that caused the tidal wave."

"How did you make it out so easily? You didn't have any water pokémon when you left."

"You're right." At first I only responded to her declarative statement we both knew to be true, but then it occurred to me the circumstances under which I met Conch. He was there with me when I woke up in the desert, and he even gave me purified water. "You're right! My mergeant saved me!"

"You have a mergeant?"

"Well, not anymore," I said with a knowing grin. "He's a fishtain now. Oh! That reminds me: I need to charge my pokédex."

"Congratulations on already having another pokémon evolve. That's quite a feat. You're proving to be an amazing trainer."

"Well, it helped that conch kept trying so hard to evolve. He clearly wanted to be on land more than anything. I think drive is the biggest factor in a pokémon's evolution. Probably even more so than experience."

"That's true. I've seen a lot of highly-skilled pokémon with tons of experience that never evolved. A lot of pokémon become less convenient when they evolve, and less cuddly. Squirtles are easier to play with than blastoises."

"Hmm. I'm not sure I really understand that. I mean, take Elly here." That's when I opened up Eltanin's pokéball and let my huge, lumbering dragon out in public. No one screamed, but I definitely felt my ears pop with the simultaneous gasp from everyone else walking through town. Elly weighed a good five hundred pounds and had a face straight out of a monster movie. Her snout was sort of stubby and somewhat angular—sharp-looking, especially with her dark scales. She had a spiked jaw that almost looked like undeveloped mandibles protruding from either side of her face, plus she had one pointy spike sticking up at the end of her snout like a rhyhorn.

The excitement she caused didn't really bother me until she decided to create a different kind of ruckus: She turned immediately to the hot dog vendor and began sniffing his cart heavily, which made him very nervous. Elly poked one of her heavy, stubby limbs on the end of the cart and got herself access to enough hot dogs to fill her gigantic belly. Let's just say she ate more than even I did. Lucky for me Team Omega was picking up my tab and the vendor didn't hold a grudge.

"I may have underestimated her hunger when I decided to introduce you," I commented to Kelly. I figured she had to think I was an idiot.

"She's a big girl. Clearly bred for fighting with claws like those."

"Not 'clearly!'" I argued. I hugged Elly tightly, which was the same as hugging a scaly wall. "She's just a big, gray, hot dog-loving poochy! Look at her adorable face!" Maybe not everyone could see it right away, but I could see the emotion in Elly's eyes. When she settled onto her stomach and looked around with her eyes half-closed, I could see she wasn't thinking about which random passerby to maul for their lunch money: She was smiling!

"She's a cutie," Kelly said with a grin. She actually looked sincere, too.

Suddenly my pocket began buzzing. I checked it to see a message received by that cell phone thing Valence gave me—a Hermes, I think he called it. It was a message from Fey saying the General was back and I should return to Team Omega as soon as I finish at the gym. Now that my obligation to Team Omega was being cashed in, my nerves got even tighter as I worried about what was coming. I withdrew Elly and called to Siggy. "Sorry, Kel. I've got an appointment to keep."

"That's okay. I should get going, too."

We hugged briefly as I confessed, "It was nice to see you again. It feels like it's been forever since Kalium Town!"

"We'll see each other again." In addition to her grin, she almost seemed to blush a little as we gave each other one last look. "Bye, Gus."

I turned down the street from that hot dog cart and headed in the direction of Team Omega's warehouse facility. My thoughts were torn between wondering what was wrong with Kelly that made her act so strange and what Team Omega was going to ask me to do. Valence mentioned going into the Gnome Temple where a legendary pokémon was sealed. I didn't really have a reason to think they were untrustworthy or they wanted to do something dangerous. Just a gut feeling.

Why was Kelly following me? She was just a few feet behind me, walking in the same direction and on the same side of the street.

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

Playfully, she shot back, "Where are _you _going?"

Suddenly I remembered her ring. It wasn't connected on the underside of her finger, like it was just a clasp—like the shape of the Omega symbol!

"Did you join Team Omega?"

She shrugged. "I got a little bored. Joining with Team Omega at least gives me something to do while I look for my purpose."

As if I weren't confused enough about Team Omega. Kelly struck me as a smart girl, though. Maybe Team Omega really was a decent organization. "I guess we might be headed to the same place, then. Shall we?"

It felt somehow odd walking to Team Omega's building with Kelly. She told me she got the idea to join up after she heard about my sponsorship. They do take in a lot of trainers off the street provided they pass the initial application process, and Kelly was a shoe-in with her skills and Kira's strength.

The headquarters didn't look any different on the surface, but I got an increased sense of hustle and bustle from all the other grunts. Taking in little pieces of conversation as I walked through, I gathered the General was already back, and he was a big guy. Specific reactions ranged from awe and admiration to disgust, but everyone respected the guy. He sure sounded like a truly impressive leader. I felt even more eager to meet the guy.

Fey was standing in the hall directing people. "Gus! Glad you made it. How'd it go at the gym?"

"Just a little upper body work and a lot of cardio."

Her responding scowl was not as amusing as I hoped. "Did you _win_?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good." She looked past me and saw my escort. "Kelly! Glad you got the message, too. The General wants all new hands on this one."

"I'm here to serve," she replied. She snapped upright and gave some kind of salute. She cupped her right hand into the shape of an "O" and held it briefly next to her eyebrow. I gave her a look that said I didn't know what just happened.

Instead of trying to figure it out, I just asked, "What are we doing?"

Fey answered, "The archaeology team has uncovered the Gnome Temple in the mountains to the south of here. We're going in for the excavation. You got the briefing from Valence earlier. Now that Caan's back, we're ready to move in."

"Caan? You mean the sumo guy?"

"He's not a sumo," Fey replied defensively. The look in her eye told me I struck a nerve I was unaware of. "You saw him wrestle with a sumo pokémon. He's a man. Nothing more."

After a short I pause, I replied, "Sorry." I remembered watching Caan fight with the hariyama at the banana festival in Kalium Town. He was very impressive, a giant of a man, taking on a pokémon that outweighed him by two hundred pounds like they were pure equals. I make jokes, but it was definitely a talent I respect and even envy a little bit. "So we're actually being led into the Gnome Temple by a man who battles with pokémon for real as a hobby?"

"Is someone talking about me?" I jumped at the sound of his voice, mostly because I didn't realize that wall nearby was actually Caan. The man was enormous—at least three hundred pounds and seven feet tall. He wore a white tunic that hung loosely on him, with an Omega symbol etched over the breast, and black pants the size of Johto. I noticed then that he wore the same ring Kelly did. A quick glance and I realized Fey did, too. Caan spoke with a thick, deep voice that sounded like someone cranked up the bass on his vocal cords and then tightened his larynx to give it a milky tone.

His huge, friendly smile still looked intimidating as he towered over me. "Who is this? A new recruit?" I managed a nervous smile and a gentle wave, which he returned even though he was right next to me.

"This is Gus. I told you about him back in Kalium, remember?"

"At the banana festival! Fey said you have a lot of promise. Are you here to explore the Gnome Temple with us?"

When I struggled to find words, Fey answered, "He is." I was beginning to see why people were so intimidated by this man. He really did look like he could crush me with a single palm if I said the wrong thing. Honestly, it frightened me.

"That's wonderful!" Caan's voice really was friendly. Maybe that's the reason my fear hadn't sent me running yet. I was still nearly frozen by it, though. Cognitive dissonance had me stuck between fear of the potentially scary man and the friendliest giant ever. "We're going to find what's inside and bring it back here for study."

"What are we supposed to find?" Kelly asked.

"We don't know yet. We're the ones going in to find out! Are you ready?"

"Of course, sir!" Kelly replied. She gave that O salute again.

"Well, since you two seem to know each other, you can be partners in this trip." Kelly and I were both confused by that. He chuckled and explained, "We're taking eight people inside for the first trip, including me and Fey. Everyone will be paired up for protection. Make sure you never lose your partner! She's there for your protection. Am I clear?" I nodded nervously, almost certain that was the right answer. "Good. We're ready to go. We'll meet outside and take the jeep into the mountains." He leaned back to the room nearby and shouted, "Team? Move out!"

This whole situation felt suddenly more overwhelming than I bargained for. Not only was I following a group of people I hardly knew into a temple that may or may not be cursed, but the man in charge could rattle the walls of this entire warehouse when he shouted. Every strand of common sense I had was telling me to make a break for it.

But then I saw Hoodie Harry on his way out of the room. He was paired up with another grunt, following just a few feet behind Caan and Fey. My curiosity and appreciation for coincidences pushed my fears aside and told me I was in luck. I'd be able to find out what Team Omega was really like _and _keep an eye on Hoodie Harry at the same time.

As we loaded up into two jeeps and prepared to move out, Valence stepped out the front door and gave us the same salute Kelly gave Fey. "Good luck, Excavation Team! We are counting on your swift success. Bring back the energy of the Gnome Temple and help us set this world forward!" His dry voice really cut straight through the sounds of the jeep engines.

A moment of dizziness and uncertainty caused me to knock my own head a couple of times. Kelly found that behavior odd. "What's wrong with you?"

"Just finding this day a little odd," I told her. "With the exception of the old man who first taught me how to capture a pokémon, I feel like everyone I've ever met is suddenly popping up today." I mean, it makes sense I'd see Valence and Fey again, but who knew that Caan was the General they kept talking about? And what were the odds Kelly would be an Omega now? Plus Marshal Ray was spying on Hoodie Harry over there… That kind of coincidence gave me the willies. I really hoped nothing bad was about to happen.

* * *

><p><em>First off, thanks go to <strong>RavenSong314<strong> and **WolfSummoner93** for contributing Kelly and Fey, respectively, to this story. Things are about to hit the fan soon and these two will be front and center. The next chapter will take place inside the Gnome Temple, where our intrepid octet will encounter the most ferocious gigas that was ever sealed inside a pokéball!_

_My apologies for the temporary hiatus. It's unfortunately that busy time of year._

_**Trivia:** The chapter was supposed to end after the group entered the Gnome Temple, but I felt like that would have been too much going on at one time._  
><em><strong>(Spoiler):<strong> We're not done reintroducing characters for this portion of the story!_


	23. Rock Tomb

Rock Tomb

The Gnome Temple had a familiar feel to it. The main entrance was still surrounded by rock when we got there, so it was difficult to see the architecture from the outside, but once we stepped through that rocky tunnel, the entrance hall was largely the same as in the Moon Temple. The tunnel opened up at the end to a shallow room with two torch pits positioned symmetrically. There was even a big, heavy-looking door in the middle of the wall. But this one didn't have a puzzle set up: It had pegs sticking out like there used to be a lock in place, but the pegs were already positioned to unlock the door. The archaeology team must have figured out the key before they sent for us.

"When I open that door," Caan warned us softly, "we don't know what to expect. There may be wild pokémon or some kind of disease. We've already lost one researcher inside this temple. Use your masks and stay alert."

"Is that what these are for?" I stretched out the elastic band on the mask around my neck so I could get a good look at the whole thing. It was a basic air tank connected to a face shield by a couple of hoses. The guys outside the temple outfitted each of us with one of these on our way in, but I didn't really ask questions about it.

"It's a gas mask," Kelly commented. "What did you think it was for?"

"I just thought it was supposed to be, like, a uniform so we'd know we were on the same team."

"Masks on," Caan emphasized. He cracked his knuckles and positioned himself beside the door. His hands were bigger than the puzzle lock. "Call your first pokémon in case we need a speedy response."

I called Reggie to my side—someone powerful and protective, yet nimble enough to move around in tight quarters. Kelly released Kira while Fey released an espeon and Hoodie Harry released a ferrothorn—a thorny, pod pokémon with vines whipping from its head. His partner was a guy named Utley, who had a jynx by his side. The other pair of grunts was a woman with a croconaw and a boy with a blaziken.

Fey gave the go-ahead nod, and Caan acknowledged it. "Here we go!" He took one deep breath and then heaved his body into the door. The noise was horrid and sent Reggie whining as he tried to hide under his paws. I got goose bumps all over my body like the squeal was giving them to me directly. The door to the Moon Temple wasn't nearly so bad. The only relief came when the door slid off the frame and hung in the air. Seemed to me like Siggy had less trouble moving an identical door.

"What was that?" Caan asked as he looked behind the door. He was probably just caught off guard by being weaker than he thought. On the other hand… "It looks like somebody piled rocks behind the door." He was almost right. The door was blocked heavily by rocks, but they were pushing into the door like kickstands. It looked like something on the inside was trying really hard to get out. And Caan shoved the door so hard the rocks scraped the metal door as they crumbled under his push. Apparently he is as strong as I originally thought.

The room was difficult to navigate given all the rocks sprouting from the ground. It was like a corn field, except instead of cornstalks towering over me, it was rocks. I thought the mountain might have collapsed and crushed its way inside the temple except the ceiling was still fully intact. Maybe the room was just as small as the one inside the Moon Temple, but it sure felt big and confusing with the altered terrain.

We followed Caan down the path between the stalagmites until they opened up into two separate paths. He split us up into two groups, having me and Kelly follow him and Fey. I was disappointed not to keep my eye on Hoodie Harry, but the rocks also made me nervous. I was glad to have Caan in front of me in the event something happened.

"Kinda creepy in here," I suggested quietly.

Fey snapped a finger in front of her face and shot me a dirty look. Not quietly enough, apparently. I understood her request, though. We had no idea what was in here, and we already announced our presence when Caan crushed the door open. Talking was only going to announce our exact position.

We began to find greater space in between the stalagmites. It was eerily similar to wandering through a wooded area and stumbling upon an open clearing. But it's not like we wandered all that far. If I ignored the fact that we spent a good deal of time moving in circles, I estimated ten meters is how far we moved from the heavy door. The center of the room, I figured while I estimated the size of the room in the Moon Temple. That meant we were standing right next to the pedestal where the legendary pokémon was supposed to be sealed in some kind of special pokéball.

"The altar's empty," Caan announced, clearly surprised. I was much less surprised. I hadn't seen one yet actually sitting in the place it was supposed to be.

"What does that mean?" Kelly asked.

Fey answered, "It means there's a legendary pokémon wandering around in here. Gnomoder once rent an entire island in a single battle. Be alert and ready for a battle."

I knew nothing about Gnomoder because I missed any briefing Fey may have given about preparing for a battle, but I assumed we were dealing with a rock-type pokémon. The other grunts called water, grass, and fighting-types to defend themselves, plus Caan seemed to be a bit of a fighter himself. Kelly only had one option for defense and I called a fire-type because I didn't know any better. But Fey's pokémon was an espeon—a psychic-type fox related to the leafeon I battled at Garfield's gym. Psychic pokémon didn't help against rock-types. Did Gnomoder maybe have a secondary type?

Suddenly we all heard a tremendous crash as the stalagmites right in front of us crumbled and a giant appeared. It looked to be ten feet tall, as bulky as a bodybuilder, and as ferocious as a dragon. His skin was dark and blanketed in brown fur. His fingernails ended as sharp as blades. His eyes were large and demonic, his nose was round and stout, and his facial hair formed a furry mask, connecting his eyebrows to his full beard. Otherwise, he was bald. He wore a soft brown tunic to cover his body with a belt at the waist to hold it in place, and he had heavy boots covering his feet.

This giant must have been Gnomoder. When he snarled and bared his pointed teeth, I knew I'd need a bigger pokémon.

"Get down!" Fey shouted. She was already prepared for Gnomoder's attack before it even happened. The gigas ripped one of the stalagmites from the floor and hurled it at us faster than an athlete throwing a baseball. As soon as he released the first, he pulled up a second one and hurled it in kind, followed quickly by a third and a fourth in an attempt to bury us in a Rock Tomb. The first two boulders shattered against an invisible barrier created by Fey's espeon. She weakened under the force of the throw, but Kira reinforced the barrier with her own Reflect technique to protect us from the third boulder.

The fourth boulder slammed into Caan. I lost sight of him as he crashed into the stalagmite field.

"Keep battling!" Fey shouted to us. She was telling us to let Caan protect himself; we needed to focus on defeating the gigas bearing down on us.

Gnomoder ran out of stalagmites to hurl at us, but he wasn't done by a long shot. He slammed his claws into the ground, and instantly a new field of stalagmites sprang up. Fey and her espeon managed one more defensive technique, Kelly and Kira effortlessly fled in time, and Reggie and I just happened to be positioned so the Stone Edge attack missed us by mere inches.

"Kira! Attract!" The elegant ninetales bounded across the rocks until she gained the high ground right in front of Gnomoder. Her lavender coat gleamed even more than usual, and a shine in her eyes could have entranced even the most battle-hardened pokémon. Except for Gnomoder. He slammed his microwave-size fist into the rocks and shattered them, causing the ground beneath Kira to crumble. She was caught up in the terrain change and took several bad hits on her way to the ground. Gnomoder pursued her, but she was able to limp away when the gigas was blinded by the smokescreen filling the room.

"Good work, Reggie," I said and patted my conflacat on the shoulders. "Now… Let's fight back! Metal Claw!"

The crashing sound gave away the exact location of Gnomoder's assailant, but the smokescreen still caught him off guard when Elly plowed through the stalagmites and tackled the giant into the rocky walls he created. She raised one of her thick forearms and slashed through the rocky skin that defended Gnomoder's right leg.

"Now Steel Tail!" Elly turned herself as quickly as she could, raised her stubby tail, and then slammed it down with the steeled bone out. It caught Gnomoder in the shoulder and chipped away another chunk of his rocky armor, but he was ready to counterattack. He kicked out with both legs: The first hit Elly's leg and caused her to slump, and the second hit her straight in the face. Double Kick may be a low-level attack, but two successive strikes dealt from such a big and powerful pokémon wounded Elly quite a bit, especially considering her inherent weakness to fighting-type attacks.

Gnomoder climbed to his feet and readied a Cross Chop overhead, but as he pulled his arms back, I heard, "Seer! Extrasensory!" and a purple espeon bounded over and blasted a hefty wave of psychic energy straight at the giant. He fell back from the attack, giving me time to pull Elly back into her pokéball, but Gnomoder was back on the offensive quickly, striking out at Seer while the nimble pokémon set another Reflect barrier.

Suddenly another roar broke through the chaos. It wasn't the roar of a pokémon, though. Caan came barreling out of the stalagmites, his tunic torn around the shoulder, and body slammed Gnomoder. They both crashed into the rock shards covering the floor.

_"Oops!"_

Who said that? That didn't sound like Kelly or Fey, and Reggie hadn't spoken to me since I had heatstroke. I turned to look for who else was here, but all I saw was a shrimpy little pokémon scurrying across the floor like a panicked bug caught in the light. I only got a brief look, but it looked like a human, kind of: maybe three feet high and with a beard half that length, but a human nonetheless.

"Is that Gnomoder's son or something?" I wondered.

Fey shouted back, "Kelly! Gus! Go after him! We'll deal with this Substitute!" As she said that, she put up her arm as if to defend against another boulder hurled in her direction, but she was protected by another invisible barrier.

"Go after what?" Kelly asked.

"You mean that little guy?"

"That 'little guy' is the real Gnomoder! Go get him!"

"Seriously?"

By quick mental comparison, it seemed impossible for those two creatures to be the same. If that little guy was really Gnomoder, then he looked like a spry old man with a green hat. Wasn't Substitute supposed to create an exact duplicate? So why was this one so much bigger and scarier than the real Gnomoder?

Reggie caught on more quickly than I did. Or else he just saw that little gnome as something to play with. Despite my loud protest, he darted through the rocks and pounced on the real Gnomoder. I forgot how fast Reggie was when he hunted.

Faster than I could blink, the ground burst into a cage of rocks that pinned Reggie in place, even piercing his haunches and threatening his chin. Just like that, Gnomoder slipped out of Reggie's grasp and continued running through the stalagmite jungle.

"Oh, my," Kelly uttered when she saw how utterly helpless Reggie was rendered. "Kira, use Dig." Kira ran to the stalagmite pressing into Reggie's neck and burrowed through it quickly using a combination of her claws and a few flaming breath techniques. Within seconds, Reggie was able to squeeze himself through the other rocks without further injury. He wasn't unscathed, though.

Kelly dropped a super potion in my hand. "Put this on his wounds. We'll run down Gnomoder. Catch us up as fast as you can!" With Kira bounding effortlessly in front, Kelly took off after the target, completely ignoring Caan's rule about being inseparable from your partner.

As I rubbed the salve on Reggie's chin, I said, "You see, Reggie? This is why you can't go running off without my command. We were unprepared, and you got hurt." I looked him in the eyes. "Are we clear?" He sniffed a little bit and poked his cold, giant nose in my face. I guess that was as close as I was going to get to an answer.

I scratched Reggie behind the ears and said, "Come on, doofus. We'd better keep up."

We didn't have to wind through the maze of stalagmites far before the room presented us with a gaping hole in the wall. It was the size of that Gnomoder Substitute back there, and it looked like it was opened by drilling stalagmites into it. I started to piece together that somehow Gnomoder broke free while he was inside the Gnome Temple, but when he couldn't break the puzzle door that locked him in, he ripped open a door in the wall of the temple. That put us inside the mountains somewhere. Needless to say, it was dark. But where were we? Did Gnomoder burrow these tunnels himself? Or did we stumble into the mines of the Cuprum Gym?

In my moment of reflection, I lost Kelly. She and Kira kept running after Gnomoder, but of the four tunnels opening around me, I didn't see which one she followed.

"Well, that's a bummer."

I was not prepared for what I heard next: "Don't tell me the big, bad Omega Grunt can't keep up with the rest of the group."

"Brooke?"

Blonde, cocky, and showing off more leg than I cared to see was my sister, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I easily recognized the arrogant delycan by her side, too, looking bigger and meaner than he did when I saw him three weeks ago. His fur was coarser, and the blue essence in his white fur had thickened.

"You decided to travel after all, did you?"

My surprise at seeing her suddenly gave way to feeling defensive. "You think you're the only trainer with any talent?"

"No. I just think you're an incompetent screw-up. Have you even gotten a badge yet?"

"Yes! Of course I have a badge. I defeated Mina just yesterday and got myself a Copper Badge."

"Is that all?" She threw her head back when she laughed, which really upset me. "You couldn't get a Potassium Badge, huh? I guess Garfield was too much for you."

"Oh yeah? We beat his fully-grown leafeon!"

Her expression fell. "He doesn't use any fully-grown pokémon in battles with beginners. Gym policy."

"I talked him into it."

"Nice of him to use a pokémon specifically weak to Regulus's attacks. How'd the second battle go?"

"We didn't have one. And don't you dare downplay how impressive it is that Reggie and Siggy defeated a pokémon fully trained by a gym leader with at least ten times as much battling experience. Maybe leafeon is weak to fire moves, but that's still incredibly impressive! That's like eating just one Pringle, or you finding a boyfriend."

That got her. "Like joining Team Omega will make you any more likely to find a girl."

"My partner just ran by here a minute ago. I think she's got a crush on me."

"A crush? You couldn't get a growlithe to lick you if you were covered in gravy."

She might as well have punched me in the face. "Hey! That's… actually pretty funny."

Brooke flashed a grin out of one side of her mouth, but she quickly quashed it in order to recreate the scowl that was permanently etched in my memory of her. "You think you're top notch? Prove it." Lykos snarled, but Brooke put her hand out to calm him.

"A battle? Here? Isn't it a little… uh… cavey?"

"If you're too scared, just say so."

"Oh, ho, ho!" I paused for a second with a heavy sigh. "Really? That's my courageous 'I accept' cry?" I shook my head and dropped Siggy's pokéball. "I'd better just let Siggy do the talking for me." It was encouraging to see my foaming humanoid ready for battle. If Brooke was going to throw Lykos at me again, Siggy would have a much easier time fighting back than Reggie did.

"A golfoam? That's uncommon."

"I heard. Will he be battling your delycan?"

"No, I think we'll start with Shriek."

"You're going to scream at me?" But she just ignored me. She opened her pokéball and produced a short, stubby pokémon that looked a lot like a stereo boom box with a mouth instead of a torso. Seriously, its mouth was about two-thirds of its entire body! Its fur was some shade of lavender-blue, plus its teeth and claws were little more than leveled white pegs. Either it had really bad hygiene, or Brooke filed its claws down too far.

"Is that that whismur you captured?"

"He was. Now Shriek is a loudred."

"I believe you. If I concede this battle and withdraw Siggy, will you promise not to have that thing make any noise in these incredibly enclosed, very acoustical quarters?"

"Well…" She put on a good poker face. Brooke looked like she was actually considering skipping the battle, like maybe she didn't want to deal with the ruptured ear drums, either. But when she leaned her head to the side and pretended to scratch her temple, I saw her slip the ear plug inside. And Shriek began shifting from side to side, stamping his feet slightly harder each time. Either he was restless, or he was building up an attack.

"Foamy Punch!" I shouted. Maybe if Siggy could get in the first strike, he'd prevent Shriek from splitting my ear drums open.

"Protect!" Just as Siggy finished his wind-up and let his powerful fist fly, Shriek put his hands up in front of himself and blocked the assault. He wasn't completely unscathed, but he was still prepared to scream.

This was going to suck.

"Siggy!" I shouted with urgency as I withdrew Reggie and clamped my hands over my ears. "Nature Power, Copycat, and Foamy Punch, in that order! And cover your ears!"

Shriek continued to stamp his feet wildly, but now he began creating a tremendous racket. I couldn't press my hands into my ears hard enough to drown out the sound. It was like being attacked on all sides by sedatives: I just wanted to collapse and sleep as long as that shut down my ears. It didn't take long at all before all I could hear was a continuous drone. It was exactly like the last time that little pokémon went nuts inside a cave. Except this time I retained my vision.

Siggy did what he could. I didn't see him change anything to cover his ears, but he attacked anyway. He bent forward slightly, perhaps to build power, and then he leaped into the air, spinning around several times before he slammed into the ground with a lot more force than I would expect from his small body. Pieces of the rocky cave began breaking off from the ceiling, dropping down on Shriek like a Rock Slide.

"Rock Smash!" I saw Brooke's lips say. After dancing around to avoid several of the smaller rocks, Shriek thrust his hand into the air and cracked one of the bigger rocks. The attack split the rock in half to fall almost harmlessly on either side of him. Though the weight of the rock took a lot out of him, Shriek's biggest problem came from Siggy. As one of the last pieces fell from the ceiling, Siggy's Copycat took effect, allowing him to punch the rock hard enough to shatter it straight ahead of him. The change in force sent the rock shards sailing toward Shriek like a sideways rain of stones.

That's when Siggy slid in and landed his Foamy Punch on the weakened loudred. Shriek flew backward into the cave wall and slowly fell over. He was in no condition to continue.

The look on Brooke's face was almost like the look I'd seen from her a thousand times: She clearly wanted to kill me. But there was something else in her eyes. Now, I hadn't seen a lot of it in my life, but could it be some glimmer of respect?

Movement behind her legs caught my eye. There were fingers holding tightly on her left leg. I don't know how I didn't notice it before, but a very short man was hiding behind her. He poked his head out to see me and then quickly pulled back behind her legs to hide again. Not a great hiding spot, though. Brooke's legs were about as wide as a couple of saplings. The guy trying fruitlessly to hide was only three feet tall. He wore a brown tunic with wooden clogs on his feet, a green hat that bent at the top due to the weight of a bobble, and white gloves at least a size too big for his hands. I couldn't see many facial features beyond his sapphire eyes, stubby nose, and incredibly furry beard and mustache.

Why was Gnomoder hiding behind Brooke?

"Spike got to pee?" With my ears still ringing, it was tough to hear what she was saying.

"What?!" I shouted at her. It took that much effort just for me to hear my own voice. She and Gnomoder both flinched.

"Geez. Keep it down, noisy!"

"Why is Gnomoder with you?"

"Stop shouting! I'm right here!" As she cleaned out her ears, she held up a pokéball—brown and gold in color with a G written in a fancy, golden font. "He's here because I'm his new trainer."

My mind went blank. I'm not sure how long it lasted, but I couldn't quite wrap my brain around the idea of Brooke taking command over a legendary pokémon. Was any human actually capable of quelling a creature that initiated an entire line of evolution within a region? And how could Brooke do it? She was still just a little girl, and my sister, at that. When I was able to feel again, I got angry. I don't know why. Suddenly I felt furious with her. Brooke took it upon herself to upset the natural order of things by claiming command over a legendary pokémon. For what? For power? Just so he could have the strongest water pokémon around? Is that why he broke in and got me banished from my home?!

"You need to put him back."

"Do what?" she asked. But it was rhetorical. She knew exactly what I was saying. "You want me to hand him over to those creeps you came in with?"

"Caan doesn't want Gnomoder. He's here to study the technology of the temple."

"Right. And the only reason you're following that girl is because you were told to work in teams."

"Well, as a matter of fact—"

"You can't have him," she commanded. Behind her sneer was a glimmer of excitement. "You want to try? Gnomoder, sweetie, we have a battle." The little gnome looked up at her bright-eyed and then took two hops with his short feet to take the space in front of her where Shriek was just knocked unconscious.

A battle with a legendary pokémon? Reggie had him completely pinned, but he turned it around by doing nothing more than tapping his foot on the ground. As excited as I felt, anxiety overwhelmed me. What could possibly confront Gnomoder in battle? Burton wouldn't have so much trouble. He could just summon Clendine to use her water attacks over Gnomoder's rocky defenses. But who could I use? All of my pokémon were young and inexperienced, especially compared with a thousand-year-old legendary creature. Only Conch could use attacks that would be super effective against him. But Conch only just evolved that morning, and I hadn't had time to train with him as a fishtain yet. I didn't have a lot of confidence in my ability to battle with him like that against one of the strongest pokémon in history. But none of my other pokémon were strong against rock-types.

Then again, maybe this battle wasn't completely hopeless for me. Fey knew we might encounter Gnomoder, but she wasn't using a water pokémon. Hers was a psychic-type. My pokédex showed me the answer.

_368-Gnomoder_  
><em>Gnome Pokémon<em>  
><em>[Rock] [Fighting]<em>  
><em>Average Height: 3'2"<em>  
><em>Average Weight: 64.4 lb.<em>  
><em>This pokémon was known to pitch battle with any entity that became too powerful. It is credited with the fall of ancient empires.<em>

"He's a fighting type," I noted aloud. Brooke scoffed, but I just smiled as I opened a pokéball and summoned Sigilyph to the cave with me. My avianoid pokémon quickly assessed the situation and recognized his foe was a powerful one. Even Gnomoder seemed excited for this battle. Could he tell how strong Sigilyph was? We were about to find out.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks go again to <strong>WolfSummoner93<strong> and **RavenSong314** for giving me Fey and Kelly. Additional thanks to all those who leave reviews. All appreciation and critiques of my work encourage me to continue in a timely fashion. Next time, we'll see what happens when the legendary Gnomoder goes up against a powerful Sigilyph, and what happens to trainers who oppose Team Omega._

_**Trivia:** Original planning made this chapter part of the previous chapter. Likewise, the next chapter was suppose to merge with them._  
><em>The image of a dragmor is based loosely on the Shield Wyrm from <em>FFXII_. If you think of that when you think of Elly battling a giant, you won't be far off._


	24. Punishment

Punishment

"Be patient, Sigilyph," I whispered to my pokémon. "Probably best to play defense until we find out just what Gnomoder is capable of." But Sigilyph had other plans. No sooner had I finished talking than he lurched forward and slashed through the air powerfully with his left wing, following successively with his right. The spin he put on the slash motions, perhaps coupled with some psychic direction, caused the winds to overlap as they formed a tunnel and slammed into the dwarven pokémon.

Almost. I never saw Gnomoder even flinch, but the ground sprouted a rock wall in front of him, dispersing the power of the wind before it could hit either him or Brooke. Actually, she didn't look amused in the least that she could have been hit.

"Trouble training your pokémon?"

"He's just excited." I hoped that was the case. "Use Psychic!" Sigilyph hovered still for a moment, collecting energy particles in front of him like he was drawing the metals from the rocks around us. He pulled back up in the air so he could see over the rock wall and released the light from all three of his eyes. The three beams combined into a single, super-powerful beam that chipped through the rocks and plowed down onto Gnomoder.

"Or just ignore my next command," I mumbled. "Sigilyph!" Maybe if I was firmer with my voice, he'd listen better. "Use Psychic!" But Sigilyph just hovered there, flapping his wings slowly. He'd flap just enough to hold his position, pause for a full second, and then repeat the process. "Or, you can ignore me, I guess. Apparently you think you know better, anyway."

Brooke just laughed at me. "Clearly that sigilyph is way too experienced for you. You should stick with rattatas."

"He's listened to me before," I said, confused.

"Sure, he'll listen when it's convenient for him. But he's obviously more concerned with the fight than with you."

"And I suppose since you captured Gnomoder he'll listen to every command you give."

She replied with a cocky smirk. "I don't need to give commands. He can win this battle on his own."

"A legendary pokémon strong enough to survive without help? After a thousand years of isolated survival, the very notion perplexes me!" She never was a fan of sarcasm, at least when she wasn't the author.

Sigilyph stopped his pause-flapping suddenly. His three eyes shone with a blue light, and suddenly he blasted forward as if powered by a powerful engine. With his body coated in the same blue light, he shattered through the rocky wall as he dove after Gnomoder. But the legendary pokémon was astoundingly astute; he bounded away from the defensive wall before Sigilyph even struck, fully aware that staying still would mean getting hit. Still powered by his Sky Attack, Sigilyph gave chase, circling through the air and breaking through each and every rock Gnomoder used for cover. Gnomoder wasn't fast, but he was small, and that made him agile and tough to catch.

With a quick hop to the side and another barrage of rocks popping out of the ground, Sigilyph's attack ran out of power. He slowed in the air as the blue glow faded from his body. If I'm right and that was supposed to be a Sky Attack, then it lasted longer than any other I'd seen and it rendered Sigilyph temporarily invulnerable. That kind of power was extraordinary. What in the world kind of pokémon did I capture?

I didn't have a lot of time to be glad I didn't get caught up in the crossfire between them. Gnomoder slammed his fists together and sent a surge of energy through the walls. Portions of the rocky terrain condensed instantly into reflective geodes; those Power Gems shot away from the walls like missiles. Sigilyph displayed impressive aerial maneuvering to avoid the attack, but even if he were made of rubber, he couldn't have done any better at making the missiles glance off of him like that. The worst injury was one gemstone ripping between the feathers of his right wing. But it seemed like it weakened him.

Gnomoder slammed his fists together again and shook the entire tunnel—floor to ceiling. A boulder dropped from the ceiling directly overhead and straight down to Sigilyph. But the attack wasn't as devastating as I expected. Sigilyph spun around drew in an incredible amount of energy. I'm no aura knight or anything, but even I could feel the dramatic increase in energy in that tunnel. Sigilyph packed the energy around him to increase his defensive capabilities as the boulder slammed into him and crumbled around him.

"What's going on?" Brooke asked. "What is that thing? Don't tell me you somehow caught a legendary pokémon, too!" She pointed her own pokédex at Sigilyph and waited for the lens to recognize the pokémon and retrieve the information. I'd already read the entry: Sigilyph wasn't legendary, but it was the guardian of ancient magic. As she read, she gritted her teeth. "Your pokémon was the guardian of one of the temples, wasn't it?"

"No. He was maître d'desert at the oasis town of Cuprum."

"Shut up, stupid! Guardian or not, he's still not as strong as Gnomoder. Use Rock Wrecker!" Gnomoder responded well, as if the legendary pokémon actually listened to my inexperienced sister! He reached up for a moment like he wanted to grab the ceiling but was too short. He didn't stretch, though; he just held the position for a moment. With a slow, downward swipe, he seemed to pull the very ceiling down on top of us, and Sigilyph was flying the highest.

"Reggie!" I shouted. Instantly he took off and, with a graceful leap, tackled Sigilyph and dragged him to the ground, away from the falling ceiling. As soon as they hit the ground, I became aware of the fact that Brooke called for Lykos to get involved. When he hit Reggie and pinned him to the ground, I realized his girth was slightly greater.

This battle was no longer just between Sigilyph and Gnomoder. "Double Kick, Reggie!" Pinned though he was, Reggie pulled his weight back to get some room underneath Lykos's belly. With a quick motion, he shoved both hind legs into Lykos and flipped the delycan over backward. Both were quick to their feet, but Lykos had the advantage.

"Water Pulse!" Brooke shouted. Lykos barked a single, heavy bark that materialized in the air as a water ring that wrapped around Reggie and knocked him back the same as if he were punched. In a physical battle, Reggie could hold his own against Lykos. But given his weakness for water-style attacks, Reggie didn't stand a chance in a full battle.

But Sigilyph still wasn't done yet. As much damage as he suffered from those rock attacks, he still had it in him to unleash an intense psychic attack—maybe Synchronoise. But the attack hit everyone hard. I felt my body go completely numb, and even Brooke crumpled over in pain. Reggie and Lykos both took cover underneath their own paws, as well. Even the legendary Gnomoder seemed to suffer greatly from the attack. But when he slammed his hands together, another barrage of gem missiles shot from the walls and finally knocked Sigilyph out of the air.

It took me a lot longer to get over the sound than it took Lykos. He seemed to hold a grudge against Reggie after the attack, and he spewed another Water Pulse. Reggie was still awake, but he couldn't fight back, and he couldn't take much more.

"Hi Jump Kick!"

"Water Gun!"

Suddenly a giant chicken popped up next to Lykos and kicked him hard enough to lift him off the floor, and then a powerful stream of water struck his side and shoved him down the slope, keeping Reggie safe from another assault.

I forgot about the other members of Team Omega at the temple. The guy with the blaziken and the girl with the croconaw came to rescue me and Reggie. The blaziken pursued Lykos quite impressively. Each time Lykos blasted him with a water ball, the blaziken seemed to shake it off and continue fighting. The croconaw began a controlled deluge that chased after Gnomoder. The water never reached the gnome, though. With a single fist to the ground, a trench opened up and drew in the water.

"Gus!" the girl shouted at me. She had to scream twice to get my attention. "What are you doing? Recall your pokémon before they get hurt!" She was right about that. Lykos hurt Reggie pretty heavily, and Sigilyph obviously couldn't go any more against Gnomoder. I pulled them both back into their pokéballs and looked to see what Brooke would do. She was outnumbered now, even with Gnomoder's power. He still looked in the pink, but the croconaw's constant water attacks hit Gnomoder quickly and often. Once the blaziken joined the fray, and if Fey and Caan ever joined in… Gnomoder wouldn't stand _that_ test of endurance.

"We need an exit!" Brooke shouted as she withdrew Lykos into his pokéball. It was hard to believe Lykos was beaten by a fire-type.

Gnomoder, actually listening to Brooke, stopped running around and reached his arms out like he was going to lift a boiling pot. It wasn't even two seconds before he squeezed his fingers into a fist and removed an entire section of the tunnel wall without even touching it. Although his body seemed to undergo incredible physical stress, he turned his body around, swinging the giant boulder heavily so it knocked back the croconaw and barely missed the nimble blaziken. The boulder didn't even roll along the ground! It moved like being dragged until it made a complete circle and reinserted itself into the tunnel wall.

And then we noticed that Brooke and Gnomoder were both gone. They probably disappeared through the wall behind that boulder, or else Gnomoder crushed my sister by accident. When I was eight, that idea would have excited me more. The guy commanded his blaziken to use Rock Smash on the wall over and over, but the boulder appeared to be too big to get through as quickly as he wanted.

The girl with the croconaw approached me. "Are you alright?"

I was a little bit confused by the question. Was she asking if I was shaken up? Did she think maybe I inhaled too many fumes since my gas mask fell off a while ago? Or was she under the impression that I battled with Gnomoder directly?

"I'm fine. A little disappointed about that battle."

"No one could expect your pokémon to defeat Gnomoder in battle," she consoled me.

"What? Oh! No, I was actually more disappointed that her delycan wiped out my conflacat again, especially considering we started training them at the same time."

The girl's eyes widened at that. Nervously, she looked back to the blaziken guy, whose attention was focused solely on the efforts of his blaziken, and then back at me. Suddenly her eyes looked much less compassionate. "You mean you know that girl?"

"Well, yeah. She's my sister. I mean I'm adopted, but she's basically my sister."

Now she looked flat angry. "I think General Caan needs to hear about this."

"Why?"

Suddenly the guy with the blaziken let out a frustrated roar. He stepped beside his pokémon, which looked exhausted, and kicked the rocky wall to no effect. "This blasted wall is too thick! Blaze could probably get through, but he'll need to rest first, and by then the girl will be long gone with Gnomoder."

"I thought Gnomoder wasn't why we were here," I objected, feeling a bit annoyed that I was probably lied to. "That was the briefing. We leave Gnomoder alone and take back samples of the technology from the temple."

"You want to let some little girl run around with a legendary pokémon?" the blaziken guy shouted back at me.

"Calm down, Blade," the girl said. "Let's just go find General Caan."

Blade scoffed. When he folded his arms across his chest and shook his head, I was slightly entertained to see his blaziken do the exact same thing. "You're too easy on him. Where's your partner?"

"Um…?" I had forgotten about Kelly after Brooke started her battle with me. "She's scouting ahead. Another one of Gnomoder's substitutes attacked and she ran down that way to finish it off. I tried to tell her I saw the real thing, but the acoustics of this tunnel are horrible and she probably couldn't hear me. I couldn't just abandon the real Gnomoder to get her attention and bring her back."

The story I came up with was pretty good. Unfortunately, I hadn't considered what happens when Kelly rejoined us and they asked for her side of the story.

"Gus tripped over his conflacat and I didn't want to lose sight of Gnomoder."

At least her version wasn't above reproach, either. By that time, we had already reconvened with Fey, Caan, and Hoodie Harry. Supposedly we were going to find out what our next step was in excavation, but it seemed more like time for Lauren, the girl with the croconaw, to get on her high horse about following the rules of Team Omega.

"You say you were trying to follow Gnomoder but you still abandoned your partner," Lauren reprimanded Kelly. "And you lost him! You failed on both points!"

"Calm down," Caan said, placing a single hand across both Lauren's shoulders at once. "We've got some good samples for the research department and after we scour the tunnels, the threat will be gone so the archaeologists can come do their thing. We'll find the little girl who took Gnomoder. There will be no harm done."

"The little girl is his sister!" Lauren added through shout.

For some reason, that really caught both Caan's and Fey's attentions. "Did you know she'd be here?" Fey asked me.

"My sister and I don't get along that well," I informed her. "Everyone's family is a little dysfunctional."

"Not everyone's sister captures a legendary pokémon," Hoodie Harry said, adding fuel to the fire. I suppose he had a point, though. I always knew my sister was abnormal.

Fey further interrogated me with, "Did you tell her where we were going?"

"I haven't seen her since three weeks ago when I was in Kalium Town at the Banana Festival. I have no idea how she got into the Gnome Temple when it was supposed to be guarded by _your_ people until the moment we entered." In hindsight, putting the blame back on Team Omega probably wasn't my smartest move, but it felt like the most accurate target at the time.

"Don't worry about it for now," Caan told Fey. He looked to me and Kelly. "This was your first mission and perhaps the importance of it was not sufficiently briefed. But you did break the only rule I told you: You separated from your partners. Omegas always work in pairs. There is no other way to ensure our safety at all times." Looking back to Fey, he added, "There's no need to resolve this right now. We'll take them back to headquarters and ask Valence to decide their punishment."

I asked, "What are the odds of our punishment being a slap on the wrist?"

Lauren gave me a sneer. "Depends on whether Valence finds you guilty of conspiring with your sister to capture Gnomoder. And he tends to listen to me."

"Oh, good," I moaned sarcastically. "Then at least I know it'll be a fair trial."

* * *

><p><em>First, thanks to <strong>1shot1bownty3<strong>, **RavenSong314**, and **WolfSummoner93** for contributing Blade, Kelly, and Fey, respectively._

_Second, sorry for the long delay. Various life events have conflicted with my schedule and made it difficult to get back into a regular writing process. With this chapter being the close of the Cuprum series, I may take a few weeks to work on my other FF piece that I've neglected for even longer, but I'll be back to this soon with Gus's punishment and a trip to the next town and gym._

_**Trivia:** The basis for this story is the games and not the anime. As such, I've been trying to incorporate game aspects. Sigilyph is leveled higher than Gus's badges will let him control (usually Lv.30 based on the second badge)._


	25. Teleport

Teleport

There was an event that used to happen in Natrium Village, pretty much on a weekly basis. If something happened that violated village statutes or affected the wellbeing of the villagers in any way, they held a meeting called a conclave to determine the appropriate course of action. Attendees were always people personally involved in whatever mishap occurred. Everyone in town had been part of it at least once. I came to know it as "Friday night." People yelled about things I broke or graffiti I left or violations they witnessed. My biggest antagonist was usually Craig, the neighbor who happened to catch me outside the Mermaid Temple and get me exiled from my home town. Being a few years older, he knew each and every transgression that ever came from me. According to his testimony, he always knew what I was thinking during the conclave and my violation of the rules. The conclave—also the word to describe the group of people involved in sentencing me—would establish order and demand everyone settle down so we could resolve the issues without emotions getting in the way.

My punishment hearing with Team Omega was pretty similar. The conclave was much smaller this time with only Valence making a decision, and the pro-Gus side was equal in size to the anti-Gus side for the first time in my life. I couldn't be more impressed with Lauren, a stout young woman who couldn't be older than twenty-one. It hadn't been even six hours since I met her—and we spent a total of thirty minutes together—but she already "knew" everything about me and my motives. She "knew" that I found out we were entering the Gnome Temple and conspired with my sister to steal the legendary pokémon within. She "knew" that I provided Brooke with the gas mask necessary for her to sneak in without standing out among the other archaeologists. She even "knew" that I staged that battle against Brooke to earn Team Omega's trust so they would lead me to another legendary pokémon and I could steal that, too.

The whole time she loosed her tirade, I stood there slurping on an empty soda bottle. All I could think was that her voice was so annoying. Was yelling her default volume? My throat would have been raw and scratchy if I'd carried on like that. Blade was in Lauren's corner as support, but the look on his face told me she had done this before. Caan, who supported me, smiled through the whole thing like he was ignoring her and thinking of something funny. Even Fey looked ready to fall asleep given the intense and cyclical accusations hurled my way. Lauren was a passionate woman. No one could accuse her otherwise. Valence was the only one I couldn't read, but I figured if General Caan was on my side, then the odds were in my favor, too.

"Thank you, Lauren," Valence said when she finally ran out of steam, two hours later. "We appreciate your enthusiasm on this issue. Regarding Gus's culpability with the abduction of Gnomoder from the Gnome Temple, we believe evidence is circumstantial at best."

I know he just said I wasn't guilty, but I couldn't get over the fact that Valence spoke in royal pronouns. I stopped sipping long enough to whisper to Fey, "Does he have a full jury of my peers in there?" She shushed me. She just couldn't take a joke.

Lauren couldn't take being told she was wrong. "But sir! How can you say the evidence is circumstantial when his sister took Gnomoder and got away?"

"That is not deductive reasoning," Valence explained to her. "You do not know Gus's history as you claim. We have rejected your claim that 'men are all the same.'"

"Sir, I didn't mean—"

"We understand it was a statement clouded by emotion. As such, we are inclined to believe Gus's sincerity when he claims not to be in contact with his sister. No punishment shall be levied against him."

Just when I thought I was ready to get a victory soda, Valence had to tack on an addendum: "As a compromise for those who do not trust our new recruit, he will have a traveling cohort as he continues his journey."

"You're just going to let him go?" Lauren screamed hysterically.

"He is already proving himself a valuable trainer. He will continue the gym circuit and shine a valuable light on our organization by association, plus he will continue to aid our excavation team when he is summoned. Because you feel so strongly about proving his guilt, your previous assignments are rescinded. You will escort Gus up the mountain to Argentum City."

"Me? Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Are you serious?" It was the first thing she and I agreed on. I'd had enough of her badgering.

Valence continued unfazed. "As his primary accuser, your word will carry the most clout when no further evidence arises. Blade, we will not force it, but we request you join them. As an impartial party, your word will be heard if Gus is found in cahoots with his sister."

Blade hadn't said anything until Valence finally called him out. He stood there with sunglasses and nonchalance on his face. He just nodded his consent.

"How is he unbiased?" I argued. "He's her partner. What if he says I'm guilty just because she asks him to? Or just to shut her up? I'll be honest: I'm tempted to cop to something I didn't do if it'll get her to shut up."

I probably shouldn't have said that, but I couldn't help myself. She was totally asking for it. Caan had to grab her by the shoulders to stop her from striking me, which was entertaining, at least. His hands were bigger than her head.

"Then it is decided. You three shall travel to Argentum City together. You may send reports to Fey regarding new evidence. We feel the need to repeat that term: _new_ evidence. Do not occupy all of Fey's time with a conspiracy theory. Provide only real evidence. Is that understood?"

Lauren gritted her teeth hard enough to crack a walnut. "Yes, sir."

"Very good. Blade, you have been to Argentum City, have you not?"

"I have," the shady guy replied.

"Please help Gus secure the necessary precautions for the hike."

"Sure."

Valence looked from Blade to Lauren and then to me, staring at me for an extended period. "Despite losing Gnomoder, the expedition provided valuable technology we can use to further our understanding of the wonders history left behind; therefore, you should take some time to relax for a successful mission. Argentum City is a renowned ski resort. Enjoy the events and visit the hot springs to soothe the aches your bodies will doubtlessly acquire during your hike. We simply expect you to keep your Hermes on and with you at all times while on this journey. Are there any further comments or concerns?"

I shook my head and said, "Nah."

Blade shook his head wordlessly.

Lauren glared at me for a moment before finally answering with a grudging, "No, sir. Will that be all, sir?"

"Yes. You are dismissed."

"Thank you, sir." The way she said it, she wished she could replace "thank" with another word. Lauren practically stormed out of the conference room. Blade followed her silently. I waited a moment to see if Valence, Caan, or Fey would say anything after the harpy left, but when it became clear they wouldn't, I dropped my empty soda bottle in the trash and followed my two new partners.

"I can't believe he's forcing me to work with that thief!" Lauren shouted. I think it was directed at Blade, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Technically," Blade told her, "Valence isn't forcing anything from you. He gave you an order as a member of Team Omega. As a human being with free will, you're still free to make your own decisions."

"Oh, give it a rest," Lauren groaned. Seriously, how could everyone else just keep working without even looking up? Was Lauren really like this all the time? "You always take his side. You never take my side!"

"I side with the truth," he corrected her.

"See? You always take his side!"

The thick voice of Caan came behind us and said, "Don't be like that. You don't even know each other. This is an opportunity for you to become friends."

"Friends?" Lauren repeated in exasperated tones. She scoffed and walked away muttering, "Insufferable optimist."

Caan put a friendly hand across both of my shoulders simultaneously. "She's a nice girl when she's calm, but she's very passionate when she gets excited. Don't worry. You get used to it quickly."

"Ah, it can't be much worse than growing up with a sister." After I said it, I wondered if I should have avoided talking about my sister, especially with Caan and Fey both there. Most likely, neither of them was convinced of my innocence.

Fortunately, they didn't seem to notice. "Enjoy your trip to Argentum," Fey told me. "Like Valence said, you should spend some time skiing and relaxing in the hot springs while you have the chance. Make sure you try their Silver Cocoa."

"Silver Cocoa? Won't that give me heavy metal poisoning?"

She offered a smirk in reply. "It's some of the best hot chocolate in the world, especially after you've wiped out on the ski slopes a few times. Just try it. I promise you won't regret it. But don't forget you're also there to train. The gym there is intended to help train dragons. That makes Long a very tough opponent to beat."

"Long is also smart," Caan added. "You should stick around a few days and learn from him. He can help you make your dragmor really strong."

Actually, it occurred to me that Elly could use a little more attention than I'd been giving her. She put up a decent fight against Gnomoder and his Substitute, but overall, she was still very fresh out of the pokéball. And she was raised in captivity, which meant she didn't have the same fighting instinct that comes with catching a wild pokémon.

"That settles it," I said and popped open her pokéball. Out came my big, reptilian pokémon with the broad torso and the narrow haunches. Despite her red eyes, jagged teeth, and spiked cheek bones that made her look a little like a mantis, I couldn't help but love that puppy-like essence of hers. "Elly will escort me up the mountain." I turned to her and, in baby talk, said, "Won't you? You'll go with me up the mountains. Yes, you will."

Fey smiled at me, but she also shook her head as if realizing that I was still a kid. Caan was much more accepting of a boy's love for his dragmor. She was a pretty rare breed, too, judging from all the looks she got on the way out of the warehouse. Either that or she's just big-boned and everyone couldn't help but notice her taking up all that space. Maybe she did need a little more exercise.

Elly and I followed Blade and Lauren to the Pokémart and the sporting goods stores for supplies, jogging most of the way. According to them, I needed a full suit of winter gear. The mountain climate was supposed to be pretty killer so high into the atmosphere. I did like the way the midnight blue jacket felt. It was like wearing a cushy sleeping bag that was nearly skintight. Except it made me really hot. We weren't too far from the desert, after all. It seemed so odd that I would have made a few sarcastic comments about selling winter gear in the steppes—by which I mean, "I made a few sarcastic comments about selling winter gear in the steppes."

After buying a rather sizable lunch, in part thanks to Elly's big stomach, we took off for the mountains. The map app on my Hermes smart phone showed the mountain range being pretty wide and dense. Blade said it would take four days to walk to Argentum City on average—maybe less time if we kept a brisk pace. All in all, it sounded like a wonderful trip ahead of us getting to know Blade and Lauren.

"Here we go," I said when we started walking. It got no response. "Over the river and through the woods and up the mountains we go." There actually was no river and the woods were pretty sparse in this climate, but it was the rhythm of my singing that counted. And still evoked no responses. "Are we there yet?"

"How clumsy are you?" Lauren asked sharply.

"Me? Ha!" As I said that, I stumbled on a particularly round rock, but I never lost my footing. "Not that clumsy. Why?"

"I just wondered what the chances are I can shove you off a cliff and claim you tripped."

I hopped up on Elly's back to be harder for her to reach. "You want me to stop singing?"

"Gee. Am I that transparent?"

"Yep."

Blade chimed in with, "You're both going to drive me nuts." He walked at the front of our trio, stepping up the pace to get some distance. It was a little odd to me neither of them walked around with their pokémon by their sides. I had a blast riding Elly's back, and I wasn't even getting tired!

"That can't be your real name," I spoke up. "Blade, I mean. I don't doubt you, Lauren."

"Your faith is encouraging," she replied snidely.

"Just call me Blade," her partner insisted.

"Is that your real name?"

"No."

"What is?"

"I don't want to tell you."

"Really? But I thought you told Lauren you tell the truth all the time."

"There's a difference between lying and keeping a secret," Lauren replied.

Blade added, "I admitted Blade isn't my real name. And I admitted I don't want to tell you my real name. Neither of those is a lie. But that doesn't mean I can't inhibit what I say. If you ask a question that I'd be tempted to answer with a lie, I'll say something that's generic but honest, like 'I'm not comfortable answering that' or 'I will neither confirm nor deny that rumor.'"

"That sounds like a cop out. Why not just tell the truth all the time?"

"Does that mean you have no secrets at all?"

"We're not talking about me. What's your problem with lying?"

"People can usually tell, and lies always come back to bite you."

I paused for a beat while I decided which response I wanted to use. "You haven't had much luck dating, have you?" Three of them immediately swam into my mind. That one had the best funny-to-offensive ratio, which was important because I still didn't know if Blade was the type to hold a grudge.

Fortunately, he just sighed. Lauren smirked at him and said, "Not so much fun for you, either, now, is it?"

"If the request hadn't come from Valence directly, I'd probably just beat him up and leave him in the woods. You'd do even worse to him. Maybe we should set up camp. The sun won't be up much longer, anyway, and I imagine he'll need the sunlight for us to teach him how to camp."

"You know, I've camped before," I told them.

Lauren scoffed. She didn't believe me. "Oh, really? You know how to set up a tent?"

"You guys use tents?"

That got her laughing. Not a friendly laugh, either, but a harsh, mocking laugh. "Since you're so used to it, you can sleep out under the stars."

That suited me just fine. Odds were pretty slim of my mount fitting inside the tent anyway, and I wasn't eager to put her back in the pokéball yet. Blade and his blaziken built the tent while Lauren went to gather firewood. I offered to help, but they just told me to work with Elly and get her ready for the dragon gym. I found out two things while roughhousing with my young dragmor: It does not take a lot of effort for her to knock over a tree, and I should never try to wrestle with something that can easily knock over a tree.

By the time Blade got the tent built and Lauren returned with the firewood and I was all black and blue, I was ready to take a nap. We grilled basculin and corn on the cob for dinner. When all the digestion was over and settled, Lauren packed herself into the tent for the night, but Blade opted to stay outside with me.

"You really distrust me that much?"

He shrugged. "I don't think you're a bad guy. A little shortsighted, perhaps. Very clever. The kind of guy who might plan a heist for one of history's most powerful pokémon without knowing the consequences."

"You don't have to believe me, but I hate those legendary pokémon. I got kicked out of my home because someone stole a mermaid and I got the blame."

I probably could have skipped that part of my life. Blade raised an eyebrow at me. "So you've been blamed for the abduction of two legendary pokémon? Interesting." When he phrased it like that, I could see how it didn't help my credibility.

"Nothing you can do about it for now," Blade told me as he lay back in his sleeping bag. "Just take it one day at a time we'll see what happens."

"That's a lot easier to say when you're not the one being watched."

I had argued against getting a sleeping bag at the sporting goods store. Blade told me I'd regret it when we got near the mountains. We were still a fair distance from the path we were going to take, but it did get chilly even with the fire going. That's what Elly was for. My big, steel poochy helped preserve heat while I tucked myself next to her belly. I lay there thinking about how much fun this trip was going to be with two sets of eyes on me the whole time.

"No sleeping bag? Has it really been that long since you camped last?"

"Oh no."

With all the trouble I was in, Brooke had the nerve to sneak up on our campsite? Her blonde hair looked coppery in the fire light. She had a blue fur ball with skinny arms and legs standing by her side, half hiding behind her leg. (It really was nothing more than a walking hair ball.) Brooke had never been fun to wander with when we were kids because she always made too much noise and scared away whatever wild pokémon we were supposed to be stalking. There was no way she could sneak up on me there.

"How did you get here?"

"My kurigie teleported me. I had to ask you something."

"Really? Do you have any idea what I went through because of my affiliation with you? Because you stole a legendary pokémon? Why did you take it, anyway?"

"Do you trust them?"

She caught me off guard with that one.

"I'm asking: Do you trust Team Omega?"

"Sure. Why not? They seem like a good bunch. Odd people, to be sure. One guy only talks in plural pronouns, one guy's a giant, one lady's an albino, and this girl tucked in the tent reminds me a lot of those mythology stories about harpies." I paused and considered the fact that Brooke had been the only one to cause me grief lately. Team Omega wasn't the issue.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I don't trust them. You want to know why I took Gnomoder with me?" She leaned in real close and dropped the volume of her voice to a silent whisper. "I think they're rebuilding the Hydrogen Empire. Gus, promise me you'll be careful. You're my brother. I hate your guts sometimes, but I don't want anything bad to happen to you unless I'm the one to do it to you." She squeezed my forearm reassuringly, and then with a twitch of the kurigie, she vanished instantly. I held my position for a moment in stunned silence.

"That was unexpected." I never knew Brooke actually cared what happened to me. The thought occurred to me that she could be yanking my chain, but I felt like I would have noticed if she were lying to me, and I got no such impression from her.

Was Valence really trying to rebuild the Hydrogen Empire? All I really knew about the story was that the Hydrogen Emperor was the one who captured the legendary pokémon hidden in the temples around Perioble. The Elder back home had made it sound like he was a good guy, but Mr. Mohawk in Ferrum City said he was a paranoid man who fought against pokémon to secure his throne. Given that "mountain" of knowledge, the one thing sure was that I'd need to find out more about the Hydrogen Empire and their war before I could come to any clear conclusions.

As I settled back down with Elly, I looked over at Blade. He wore his sunglasses while he slept, giving the illusion he might still be awake. If he saw me talking to Brooke, he'd probably let Lauren push me off a mountain when no one was looking.

"Blade? Are you asleep?" No response. "Your sleeping bag's on fire." Still nothing. "So you didn't hear my sister teleport over here and tell me not to trust Valence?" He didn't even twitch. If I couldn't see the rising and falling of his sleeping bag, I might have thought he was dead.

"I'm still in the clear for now, I guess."

* * *

><p><em>First off, thanks go to <strong>WolfSummoner93<strong> and **1shot1bownty3** for contributing Fey and Blade, respectively. I'm enjoying divulging more quirks about these two characters as time goes by._

_Next, apologies for taking some time off. I might be working on too much at once, but I'll make it work as best I can. I'm looking for one specific piece of feedback (in addition to anything else you'd like me to know about the story): Would it be helpful if I put a two- or three-sentence recap at the top of each chapter with relevant points from earlier in the story?_

_**Trivia:** Kurigie didn't get a lot of focus, but it's based on Kuriboh from _Yu-Gi-Oh!_, plus the word "shaggy," meant to describe its appearance. It won't get much of a part in the story because it's similar to focusing on abra, but it's evolutions will get some good screen time._


	26. Icy Wind

Icy Wind

Brooke's late-night visit left me reeling mentally. She certainly gave me something to think about. What if Team Omega really wanted to build an army of legendary pokémon? But why do that if they had such widespread influence already? Valence had the wisdom of a thousand men, and Caan had the strength of a dozen. Plus they made tons of money with excavating and recovering technology. Who needed to dominate all pokémon when they already dominate society?

There were still so many questions, though. Did they even possess one of the legendary pokémon? Brooke acquired Gnomoder, and Burton was the one who awakened Clendine. I never figured out what happened to Resowisp, plus there were five more I didn't know much about. And why these particular pokémon? What was the big attraction about the Hydrogen Empire that was worth repeating? People always idolize ancient societies that went extinct. Shouldn't that fact alone indicate it's a bad idea to emulate them? I actually didn't know enough about the region's history to have any idea what was going on. It would probably help if I could find someone who'd read a lot of books on the subjects of history and the Hydrogen Empire and could answer my questions for me. A second, less desirable choice would be actually reading such books myself. Maybe there was some kind of TV movie about it.

The sun woke me early. I actually felt great. Elly's scales gave my back support and tension in the perfect ratio to relax me and stimulate my muscles. Not vigorous muscles, of course, but they held my spine together. First thing I had in mind was a bathroom break.

When I stood, Lauren asked, "Where are you going?" It was like she was just sitting at the flap of the tent waiting for me to do something she could pounce on. It was an almost literal game of cat and mouse.

"I just thought I'd swing by Castelia City for some ice cream. You want any? One scoop or two?" She didn't appreciate the sarcasm, which I found pretty ironic considering her attitude. Maybe she just didn't understand it so early in the morning. "I'm going to, uh… 'unleash a coiler.' I feel like I haven't used a rest room in two months. That okay with you?"

"How boorish. Blade?"

I scoffed. "I didn't realize I needed an escort." She didn't respond and he didn't say anything. "Oh, I get it. You don't trust me even a little bit, so you want to watch my every move."

"That's pretty spot on," Blade admitted as he sat up. His whole truth thing with the loophole of keeping secret anything he didn't want me to know would get really annoying. It'd probably be easier on me if he'd just lie.

I gave him a look. "How close are you going to get?"

"Close enough to be sure you aren't trying to meet with your sister out of earshot."

"Yeah?" I laughed with a shake of my head. "You're in for a real treat."

By the time we returned to camp, Blade was half unconscious on his feet. I warned him trusting me would pay off in the end, but he chose to learn the hard way. Let's just say Lauren and her croconaw had enough time to break down the tent and pack it up. And collect the sleeping bags and other camping supplies. And read a novel. And I think her croconaw evolved and got married and had kids.

"You have bathroom duty from now on," Blade told her.

She reacted like he'd pantsed her in public. Few people ever turned that shade of beet red in front of me. "How dare you! A lady would never watch a young man pee."

"If that's where it stopped, we wouldn't have this problem," Blade replied.

"You know," I chimed in. "I'm starting to get a little uncomfortable with all this talk about everyone watching me use the facilities, which I'm fully aware don't actually exist out here. Can we just get started? Elly's hungry and I'd like to give her the chance to hunt for breakfast."

Lauren looked at me as if I were an idiot for not knowing what her responding silence meant. "Well? Get to it! We're right behind you."

I wasn't sure how well they could keep up, but I didn't care, either. Having someone come with me between towns was looking like a bad idea. It was kind of nice having someone to talk to once in a while, but I really wished it could have been someone else. Fey and I got along well enough, and I'm sure there were hundreds of Omega Grunts who had more in common with me than these two lug nuts.

Elly was eager to get started. But she was not a natural forest hunter. She wasn't much of a runner, and I was pretty sure all the forest critters could hear us coming. How was she going to sneak up on anything like that? I coaxed her into slinking a bit through the trees, but her footsteps were still heavy and shook the ground. A lot of birds watched her approach and then took off when she bumped the trees.

Suddenly Elly froze in place. It took me a moment to figure out why. About eighty meters in front of us stood a pair of deerling: one doe and one fawn. Elly's instincts were pretty good, considering she immediately froze in hopes of not scaring them away. I thought they might not have seen us yet, but my big, bluish-gray dragmor contrasted the woodsy brown and green quite severely. The only deerling that wouldn't see her would be a blind one.

But even a blind deerling would be able to hear her crashing through the trees! She took off like a predator chasing her prey. Her sudden movement surprised me and, failing to get a good hold on her collarbone, I fell off and hit the ground awkwardly. She was a natural predator, but also slow and clumsy—slowed even more by the trees in her way. With every step, she knocked over trees as she moved her bulky body through the woods. The deerling bounded off gracefully avoiding the trees as if they could run right through them, but I swear they stopped long enough to blow a raspberry before they disappeared from sight, blending in with the scenery. Elly came to a skidding halt a moment later, looking sad when she couldn't find her prey.

Looking up at the trees from my position on the ground, I realized, "That's how they're doing it." Blade and Lauren kept their distance a ways, but that blaziken followed us up the path by moving along the treetops. The high ground was a good route for him to take. He was able to keep a real close eye on us even if his trainer was too far out to do it directly.

My forlorn dragmor approached me and licked me. But it wasn't a big, slobbery lick like when she was happy. It felt like a depressed action. I patted her on the head and hugged her snout to cheer her up.

"Don't worry, girl. Let's get out of these woods. You and the trees don't seem to get along."

I directed her out of the trees and toward the rocky area at the base of the mountain. This time, though, I walked beside her. No offense to her, but I didn't need her taking off again while I fall awkwardly on a pile of rocks. Besides, I could probably spot prey for her and then help her track it down. There had to be something along the mountains she could take down: maybe a teddiursa or even some slugmas.

CLANG!

The noise startled me. I turned sharply to see Elly had stumbled upon a pile of geodude, and they were fighting back! The little two-armed rocks pummeled Elly repeatedly in the belly and face, but her thick skin dulled the pain nearly to nothing. It didn't seem to bother her, at least in terms of pain. I got the impression they were annoying her, though, when she opened her wide jaws and engulfed one of them. The sound of the crunching as she chewed up the geodude and swallowed it made my stomach churn. And then she scooped up another one.

"Well, I guess, as a steel-type, you can get some of your nutrients and minerals from rock pokémon. I hope you don't mind if I look at something else." She's a carnivore by nature—or a terravore, in this case. But watching her eat other living things was a little more than my stomach was ready for.

I looked up along the Gallium Mountains to take in a more relaxing view. This close, it was hard to see how high they went. There was a distinct ring a ways up where it got cold enough for snow to dust the path, and the meeting of the warm air down here with the cold air up there created a veil of fog that blocked my view any farther. A chill brushed my arm as a gust of frozen air slid down the mountain. There was no telling how high we'd have to go to reach Argentum City. Blade said it would take another three days to get there. The path trodden by so many travelers and trainers before me looked easy enough to follow, although it winded back and forth along the sides. Still, nothing too treacherous I could see.

I caught sight of the blaziken at that point. He wasn't interested in the view of the mountain. He just kept staring at me.

"'Blaze,' huh?" I asked him. "Catchy, I'll admit, but not terribly creative. Then again, he picked the name 'Blade' for himself. You never had a chance."

He didn't respond. Probably didn't understand a word I was saying over the gravely sound of Elly chowing down on geodudes. The survivors were starting to run, but their lack of legs made it difficult for them to get far before she pounced. I figured it was probably time to pull her back before she ended up eating more than she could actually digest. If she ate too much, she wouldn't be able to train later.

Thoughts of training actually reminded me of how that blaziken battled. It was able to power straight through a water attack from a delycan. It would be awesome if Reggie could do that. Brooke had the edge on me whenever a battle started between our first pokémon. I know I could beat her if Reggie could just take out Lykos. Siggy took out her loudred. With the right kind of training, Elly and Conch would be able to take out any others she caught.

Of course, I'd have to find a way to fight back against Gnomoder now. What was I supposed to do against a legendary pokémon that actually listened to her? Sigilyph was easily my strongest pokémon and even he couldn't win that fight. I have to admit: In that moment, the idea crossed my mind that if I find another legendary pokémon with Team Omega, I should keep it for myself.

"He could probably take her," Blade said, referring from his blaziken to the dragmor I now held in my hand. "She looks pretty strong, don't get me wrong, but she's like a kid next to him. Plus she's steel, and his fighting prowess would crack through her scales."

"You've obviously trained him a lot," I noted. "How did you make it so he can just ignore a water attack and keep fighting?"

A smug grin crept across Blade's face. "Fire-types have a few inherent weaknesses, but there's only one that immediately springs to everyone's minds. As soon as you summon a fire pokémon, everyone thinks about water attacks. That works out well, too, because training against ground attacks is tough, and rocks will always hurt on contact no matter how prepared for them you are. I mean, you can train your pokémon to block or avoid the smaller attacks, but rocks are pretty solid and always hit hard. If you face an opponent that starts moving walls around, you're going to get hurt either way."

"I'm confused. Does the wall start moving before or after you train for water attacks?"

"Oh! Right. Got sidetracked there." He cleared his throat, which did little to clear my memory of the previous thirty seconds. "Training for water attacks is pretty simple in theory. Let me use Blaze as an example. All he had to do was get used to the pain of being in the water. It was a slow and adaptive process that he had to build into, but over time, he got to the point where he could deal with being hit by water even though it still hurts him.

"All I had to do is motivate him. As you can guess, Blaze wasn't excited about jumping in the water the first few times. I had to teach him that the pain would get better with exposure—that battling would be easier in the long run if he endured the pain for short training sessions. It helped that he really wanted to be an all-star battler. My foster parents used to tell me that he wanted to be the best for my sake, but I think the reality is that he just wants to be the best fighter there is."

"Your foster parents were your inspiration?"

Blade furrowed his brow at me. "And you were just mocking me for failing to stay on topic."

"Sorry."

He sighed, which was a sign story time was over. "Anyway, if you find yourself battling against your sister and her delycan again, you'll be in a much better position if you train your conflacat to resist water. Especially where we're headed now, up there into the ice caps."

"Why does that matter? Fire beats ice every time."

He put on another smug grin. "_How_ does fire beat ice?"

"Uh… By melting it. Duh. Ohh!" Luckily I realized what he was saying without any help. Fire plus ice equals water, which can then hurt Reggie if he's not careful or prepared. "I get it. Fire melts the ice and causes a water hazard. Does that happen a lot?"

"Well, it tends to create vapor, mostly, which varies with intensity depending on the strength of the attacks at the time of the collision. But if the whole environment is icy, then water is much more likely. So even in a match against an ice-type, your conflacat can get hurt by water. I'd be happy to recommend some training routines if you think the water would be good for your conflacat."

"Yeah?" I looked back up the rocky mountainside. "There a lot of lakes along the mountain trail?"

"Nope. But I'm sure Lauren would be willing to lend her croconaw to your needs."

I tried envisioning that scene: Lauren telling her croconaw to be relentless and pummeling Reggie into the ground until the reptile ran out of spit, all the while her cackling away on the sidelines. She'd probably even have that thing attack me directly a couple of time just for laughs.

"Actually, I was thinking it sounds like a good chance for Reggie and Conch to hang out together. That will probably work out better."

* * *

><p><em>First off, thanks to <strong>1shot1bownty<strong> for contributing Blade to the story._

_I've just realized during this chapter that writing a team of pokémon is like writing for more characters than you can really handle at one time. It's tough to give everyone screen time in a way that makes sense. Obviously, I'm not going to throw Reggie out there every single time just because he was Gus's first. I hope you're pleased with how I'm doing so far. Try to think of it like the games: You could feasibly use only one pokémon all the time, but you're better off shifting your training between the members of a team. And a lot of training will be unwritten to keep the story moving._

_**Trivia:** I wanted to have Gus and Lauren mocking one another constantly, but it never came out right. Lauren told me that she would normally just ignore Gus unless he did something blatantly against the rules, even imagined rules that only she knows. So a lot of their conversation was cut to match her personality._


	27. Powder Snow

Powder Snow

Climbing mountains has never been tough for me. But then again, it didn't snow so much in Natrium Village. Being next to the ocean, we received warm ocean currents all year that kept the climate pretty warm as I routinely cross the "Do Not Enter" signs surrounding the Beryl Cliffs. Maybe that's why I'd thought I'd be fine hiking up ice-capped mountains without piling on winter weather gear. Fortunately I took Blade's advice at the time and got the insulated clothes and boots, but I had been ignorant enough to ignore the sleeping bag. Thank goodness my closest pokémon was a cat that generated fire in its belly. Whenever I got too cold to move on, Reggie and I would just cuddle for a while until I felt better. Despite my life flashing before my eyes four times during the climb and the fact that I was disappointed there weren't more girls in said slideshow, I climbed up the side of the mountains while Blade and Lauren took the slow path up, mocking me every time we set up camp. After three full days of hiking and climbing with breaks for training, we reached the gates of Argentum City.

And boy, was I surprised! The south side of the mountain resort looked exactly as I expected. The white slopes shimmered like an expanse of diamonds as people wearing ski suits shot through the snow and tossed clear powder into the air with every twist and turn. Ski lifts carried skiers successful and otherwise back up the mountain either for a second chance at the slopes or to join those wishing to relax with a cup of hot cocoa.

But the other side looked like I was back in the desert oasis in Ferrum City. I noticed two distinct areas fenced in near the mountainsides where steam distorted the air. That had to be the hot springs Fey told me to look for. A bigger pool wound alongside the resort with no fence blocking the view of people walking around in swimwear. There was a distinct line down the center of the resort dividing the snow-capped ski lodge from the beach-like springs.

"Thank goodness we're here," Lauren moaned. She immediately pointed me toward the hot springs. "There you are. The heat you've been craving so loudly these past few days. Hurry over there before I strangle you."

"I wasn't complaining about the cold," I argued.

"More like crying," she corrected herself.

Blade said, "Be fair, now. He was actually very quiet the whole time he was climbing."

"Only because he was too far away for us to hear him."

"Now you're making excuses for him being too quiet? Geez, Lauren. Maybe you're the one who needs to hop in the hot springs and relax."

"I'm perfectly relaxed!"

I muttered, "As relaxed as a seviper with Tourette's." Before she could translate her annoyance with me into words, I rushed into the resort shouting, "I'm going to hit the slopes if you need me!" If they wanted to watch me like a pigeot, they'd have to ski as fast as I could.

Before long, I had rented skis, listened to a lame lecture about how to ski safely, and got myself situated on the big boy slope, ready for the long slide down. It was like looking down a giant slide but knowing that one little slip-up and I could seriously injure myself. But a physical specimen like me couldn't waste time warming up on the short slopes. There was only enough light left in the day for one trip. This was going to be fun no matter what.

"Pardon me for interrupting your train of thought," spoke a man with an effeminate, Northern accent, "but I was just wondering: You seem a bit nervous. Are you sure you're ready for this course?" The man wore black winter clothing and a red ski cap, all hiding most of his physical features. But I could see that he had dirty blond hair, a wispy mustache, a t-shaped face, and a thin-lipped smile.

"I was just mapping out my specific course in my mind. You know, figuring out when to go fast and when to go slow so I get to the bottom before the sun sets but I don't go so fast I miss the whole experience."

He smiled. "I see. Is this your first time?"

"Planning before doing? I think it might be."

"I meant skiing, specifically. You might consider waiting until morning so you can complete the training courses."

"I listened to the mandatory lesson when I rented these skis. I'll be fine."

"If you say so." The man put on his gold-colored goggles and smiled. "Think you can keep up?"

"You're on!" A competition? He wanted to race with me here? What a chump! This was going to end so poorly!

He pushed off smoothly and took a head start down the slope while I waddled behind until I crossed over the edge and gravity took hold of me. Suddenly I felt like I was about to fall over and tumble down the mountain end over end. Somehow I managed to stay upright and find a good balance somewhere between standing up and leaning forward. I ended up practically sitting back on an invisible chair while leaning forward to keep my weight centered overall. The result may have slowed me a little from my full capacity, but I was upright.

My mysterious challenger was rubbing his skill in my face. He angled himself toward the side of the slope where the path became uneven. With the speed he'd built up from taking that second ski lesson, he hopped over a bump in the snow and lifted his feet beside his waist while he was in the air, smoothly lowering them back down in time to continue seamlessly. Still ahead of me, he pulled off to the side and into the trees lining the slope. Like an expert, he weaved back and forth to avoid colliding until finally he shot back out onto the main path just a short distance in front of me.

_He's good,_ I thought to myself as I struggled to maintain my balance. Out loud, I reassured myself, "You're doing great! Just remember: Shape your feet in a pizza slice to speed up and French fries to slow down." Unfortunately, I found it a little difficult to follow the gentle turn in the center of the course. The barriers marking the end of the course were pretty flimsy and crumpled like paper when I sailed right through. They slowed me down a little bit, though not as much as that twenty-foot drop at the end of the mountain.

As I looked around this enormous ditch with the incredible view of the entire mountain range, I couldn't help thinking how lucky that was. Maybe I wasn't the all-star skier I wanted to be, but I could have been hurt much worse. And I wasn't completely lost, even if I didn't know where I was. At least one of my pokémon should be able to help me climb back up to the ski course and find the lift. Or Sigilyph could just cut out the whole thing and carry me back up by himself.

But first, the view really caught my attention. The setting sun was gorgeous as it stained the sky crimson, but its most impressive feat was to mask the scene below. Drowned in the shadow of the Gallium Mountains, a single stretch of train track emerged from within the mountainside, suspended in the air over a wide ravine, and tucked away inside the mountains on the other side. Far below the tracks lay uneven terrain, molding to the shape of a minefield, the result of a series of powerful impacts. Snow had fallen over time and returned the soil to its typical consistency, but the unnatural shape rang in my mind.

I heard the sound of snow tearing up the ground behind me as the golden skier returned to check on me. "Are you alright?" he shouted to me.

My response sounded more sullen than I had intended. "I may have jammed my knees on impact, but I'm alive."

He picked up on my tone. After a brief survey of the area, he asked me, "Do you know where we are?"

"The Rubidium Pass."

"Correct. Do you also know what caused the unusual shape taken up by the ground?"

"A magnet train jumped the track here twelve years ago."

"You are much better informed about the region than you are about skiing," he replied. I think he was trying to lighten the mood. It wasn't until I realized that's what he was doing that I realized how depressed I felt in that place.

"My parents were on that train when it crashed."

"Truly? You hardly look old enough to remember the event. You must have been a child."

"I was three. Just a little kid abandoned in Natrium Village."

"Oh, dear boy. I am so sorry to hear you've suffered such tragedy. It's hardly recompense, but please allow me to escort you back to the lodge and buy you a hot cocoa."

I sniffed back the tears forming along my face and hoped the ski visor I was wearing would stop them from freezing my eyelids shut. "That's not necessary. Thanks for just being nice to me, though."

"Are you certain? They use dark chocolate."

My ears perked up and defrosted instantly. "Dark chocolate hot cocoa? Maybe I can be convinced after all." It didn't take us long to get to the ski lift, thanks to golden skier's guidance on how to control my travel a little better. He even used the same lame metaphors used in that mandatory training about shaping my feet like a pizza slice to slow down.

The inside of the lodge was really nice. It was brightly lit with a chandelier of candles and lamps lining the walls. A stantler head with broad, pointy antlers was mounted on the back wall overlooking the fireplace. The floors were hardwood oak and perfectly matched the ceiling rafters. A variety of plush seats populated the floor. I found a nice recliner with a leather cover. It smelled like the stories of a thousand rotten skiers, and it was a comfortable place for my butt while I consumed my heavenly dark chocolate beverage.

"Seriously. This has got to be the best drink ever invented. It's got twice the energy of coffee without tasting the same as this leather recliner."

"Be careful saying that to any coffee drinkers," replied Golden Skier. "But I'm glad you enjoy the drink. Promise me you'll take the second ski class before you hit the slopes again. You won't always be lucky enough to land safely, and I won't always be there to help you find your way back to the lodge."

"Don't worry about me finding my way to civilization." I turned my head just enough to see Lauren and Blade out of the corner of my eye. They were relaxing in the corner of the room. "I always have someone looking out for me."

"That's good to hear. A young man on a journey should make lots of friends. You never know how your connections will benefit you in the end." He seemed to notice someone walking nearby: a young girl with long, auburn pigtails and an older guy who looked tall enough to dunk a basketball without even stretching all the way. He had a really long face with a large bridge in his nose. "What luck! Allow me to introduce you to someone now." He signaled to the pair. The tall man smiled at Golden Skier and walked straight toward us. Pigtails followed him.

"Good to see you, Anthony," Too Tall said as he grasped Golden Skier's hand in an oversized handshake. "I am sorry I missed our dinner appointment."

"It was no trouble at all. The delay gave me time to work on my form, and I chanced into meeting a young man here I think you should know." He looked at me. "Gus, meet Long, the leader of the Argentum Dragon Gym."

"It's good to meet you," Long said as he clasped his hand around my entire forearm.

"Likewise."

Golden Skier had taken a moment to greet the young girl with a kiss on the cheek before motioning her toward me as well. "And this lovely young entrepreneur is the owner of this establishment: Miss Charlotte Ellie."

The girl pointed to herself with her thumb. "My name's Charlotte Ellie, but call me that and I'll crush you like a caterpie. Call me Elliott."

She was not what I expected from someone who owned a ski lodge. For one thing, she didn't look any older than I did. The pigtails certainly told of a young girl. She put light-brown highlights in her hair to soften the appearance. Her green eyes were piercing next to her fair complexion. Pretty much everyone was tall compared with her. And her smile was over the top. I wouldn't say it was completely fake, but it seemed motivated by money.

"Duly noted."

"Young Gus here told me earlier that he was interested in joining your gym, Long."

Long looked at me with raised eyebrows. "What are you looking for? You want to learn how to train your dragon?"

"Well, I do have a dragon pokémon that hasn't had much training except for climbing the mountains and fighting a few short battles. I'm also collecting gym badges."

"Really? Come by the gym tomorrow and watch the battle I have scheduled. It'll be a good chance for you to see what dragons are capable of before you challenge me directly. Afterward, I'll get you started on a dragon training routine."

"That sounds generous of you," I replied. "I'll definitely stop by."

"Anything for a friend of Anthony's," he said. He smiled at Golden Skier and walked away with Elliott. Suddenly it occurred to me where she came up with that name: It combines the names Charlotte and Ellie. She winked at me as she walked away, either because I'm ruggedly handsome and her age, or because flirting with patrons causes them to spend more money.

"Who's Anthony?" I asked. Golden Skier just offered me a simple grin. "Oh. Sorry about that."

"That's alright. I must have left my manners back on the ski slopes."

"I could have asked at any time," I pointed out, "but I got distracted by the Rubidium Pass thing and holy crap! I just realized why Elliott looks familiar!" Anthony tilted his head in curiosity at my outburst. I caught the attention of several other patrons, too, including Blade and Lauren.

I thought back to my first meeting with Ray of the Marshals Service. He had been looking for someone when he helped me out of the desert. With my indoor voice, I asked Anthony, "How often does the Marshals service get up here?"

"Once in a while, I'm sure. Why?"

_"Let's get to the point, Gus. Any chance the man who swept you into the sea was actually a woman? She's about five-six, one-twenty, fifteen years old, auburn hair with a few highlights, green eyes. Kind of a reckless girl, sometimes accompanied by two rather inept men who couldn't tie their own shoes with Velcro. Ring any bells?"_

_"Uh, nope. Definitely a guy with a bad attitude." Curious, I asked, "What'd she do?"_

_"I can't tell you that."_

_"It must be pretty bad to get the Marshals after her."_

I watched Elliott make her way around the room, talking to patrons and chatting them up. "Because Charlotte Ellie over there fits the description of someone they're looking for."

* * *

><p><em>Thanks to <strong>Kurono-Angel<strong> for contributing Elliott to the story. This probably isn't exactly how you pictured her arrival, but she's got an interesting part coming up in this story. The next few chapters will be fun for her. For those of you whose characters haven't shown up yet, stay heartened. The story's not even halfway complete yet. Long is only the third regional gym leader!_

_I must also extend thanks to **Lunary Canary**. She has this story listed on her profile page as one of her must-read recommendations. That's the best praise I could possibly receive. Thanks! Further thanks go to **Midsummer Moonlight99** and everyone else who continues to read and who submitted characters for inclusion in this story._

_**Trivia:** Long got his name because I wanted to give the leader of the dragon gym a name that referred to dragons. Drake would have been perfect, but he's already Elite Four in Hoenn. Draco was another option, but he's one of the Riches in Black and White. The name "Long" means "dragon" in Chinese, so that's what I went with._

Kurono-Angel 


	28. Dragon Dance

_I will apologize after the chapter for taking so much time off!_

_For now, here's a brief recap of the necessary points for this chapter:_  
><em>Gus's journey brought him to Argentum City, a mountain resort that has a beach and hot springs on one side and ski slopes on the other, but is also the home of the Perioble Dragon Gym. He's escorted there by Elliot, the young mayor of the town who Gus suspects is a criminal wanted by the Marshals.<em>

* * *

><p>Dragon Dance<p>

"You're in for a treat today," Elliott told me. "Long isn't facing a fledgling trainer hoping to gain another badge. He's actually battling with an experienced trainer who already has a Silver Badge. There are no stakes in this duel. They're just two experts keeping each other sharp."

She was escorting me to the Dragon Gym to see the exhibition Long invited me to. I could have asked Anthony to come with me since he seemed so friendly, but I wanted a chance to find out a little more about Elliott. I kept in mind the slight chance that she wasn't actually the hardened criminal mastermind Marshal Ray was looking for, but she fit the description too perfectly. I didn't want to start something without evidence, so I thought maybe by hanging out with her I could figure out what she did.

Our trip to the gym was different from what I expected. We walked through the beach side of the city, which was crazy enough considering I had to sleep with a comforter and a duvet cover just to keep warm in the lodge. The beach side had the climate of an actual beach, and everyone walked around with beach wear. Elliott wore an elegant tank top and chinos, but she carried a heavy coat in her arm.

"Was this place built on top of a volcano?" I asked her.

"Mount Palladium," she replied. "There's nothing to worry about, though. It's extinct. The city was built here to take advantage of the hot springs. They're just water springs heated underground by the planet's natural heat."

"Does an extinct volcano still produce hot gas?"

"Of course. There was a time when people stopped coming here because the hot springs started to cool off. There's no more magma, but the ground generates its own heat if you know how to harness it That's what I did. I directed them to install pipes underground that redirected the natural heat back to the springs. The springs don't reach boiling points like they did when the city was first founded, but they're still plenty warm for comfort, plus they're rich in rehabilitative nutrients. You might visit the rehabilitation clinic we have here. It works wonders for disabled people."

I shot her a look. "What are you trying to say?"

She shrugged playfully. "I don't know much about you. Maybe you need it."

"Depends who you ask. My sister would forcibly commit me. The Elder might be on my side, unless you asked on the day I rigged his file cabinet with fireworks."

"That sounds like fun."

"It was hilarious, but not really fun. I moved the papers so they wouldn't ignite, but I didn't adequately account for the rest of the office. Try to picture a tapestry with lots of tassels hanging above. That thing lit up like an old man's birthday cake."

Elliott smiled. "I like that story." She distinctly said she liked it, but she never laughed. "Sounds like you have a bit of a reckless streak in you. Not a big fan of thinking before you act. You'll love the dragon gym."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because of that."

With the peak of Mount Palladium in sight, we hit a humongous bridge that separated in three directions. The middle bridge went straight across a chasm into a hole on the face of the mountain. A bridge to the left wrapped around at a downward spiral to a plateau lower on the mountain. A bridge to the right wrapped around in an upward spiral toward the mountain's peak. Each bridge looked like it was constructed from the spine of a dragon. And I mean that exactly as I said it: the spine of _a_ dragon.

"What is this bridge made of?" I asked.

Elliott explained, "It depends which story you want to believe. The most likely theory is that it was built from the ribs of a whole bunch of deceased dragon pokémon. The more popular theory is that it's the remains of an ancient, gigantic, three-headed dragon."

"Whoa…" A creature the size of this bridge? That dragon would have to be big enough to swallow a city whole. And I was only looking at the necks. How big would the body have to be to support that kind of weight? I'd never heard of any beast or pokémon with such girth.

"Don't get too excited. There are no dragons that size. The whole point to the three-pronged bridge is a battle of wits. One of Long's trainers will wait here, and after the challenger beats his pokémon in a battle, he'll offer a clue as to which path leads to the gym leader. Of course, which way Long decides to go on any given day depends on his mood."

"What does that mean? What's the difference?"

She pointed down. "That way goes inside the mountain where the geothermal energy comes from. He tends to use fire dragons down there." She raised her hand to point up. "That ways goes to the peak of the mountain. You'll see a lot more flying dragons. But we're going that way," she said with her finger pointing straight ahead. "That's where Long likes to use his colder pokémon—the ones who take advantage of the natural weather up here."

"Natural weather," I repeated with a chuckle.

Elliott blushed heavily. "Sorry. Non-volcanic weather."

"I got it. Just picking on you a little."

"On the woman who can kick you out of town if she wants to."

"Which is why I started second guessing myself as soon as the words were out of my mouth."

She smirked at me. That was a good sign, right? "Let's just go inside before we miss it."

Elliott flashed a card to the old man at the entrance and he let us straight in. I didn't catch the contents of the card, but it probably had something to do with her friendship with Long. A fair-sized group of people had gathered into the arena to watch the battle. Two people sat right next to the stage on either side with their big milotics coiled beside them. According to Elliott, this exhibition wasn't open to the public—just to students of the gym. It was an honor that Long invited me. The giant, lanky man stood on the back end of a man-made cave spread wide enough for three simultaneous basketball games to take place.

His opponent was much older than I expected. Elliott had said he wasn't a fresh trainer, but I wasn't expecting a sixty-year-old with dark skin, white hair, and a well-trimmed goatee. He wore just as little as Long did, covered only by a thick windbreaker and snow pants. He was pretty fit for a man his age, but I based that assumption only on the facts that he didn't look fat and he stood under his own power through the entire battle, which was pretty devastating.

"Who did you say this guy is?" I whispered to Elliott.

"His name is Nelson. He's pretty famous. I'm surprised you don't recognize him."

"Should I?"

"Uh, yeah? You're collecting badges so you can battle him one day!"

Her words became clear when the battle began. Long tossed out a pokéball that summoned a druddigon, which was a bulky, reptilian beast with incredibly jagged scales and claws like giant teeth. It moved on its two hind legs, which were relatively short and gave it a slow, heavy gait not terribly unlike my own dragmor's. Nelson responded by summoning a magmortar, a pokémon of the same height as the druddigon, but with an egg-shaped body and flaming skin. And it's really hard to miss the fact that the magmortar had no hands, instead using appendages that can only be described as cannons with barely flexible rims at the ends. Seriously, it looked like two flamethrowers instead of arms.

As soon as the two trainers gave one another a nod, the battle began in a flash.

"Thunderbolt."

"Hone Claws!"

The magmortar raised its cannons, and a fleeting electrical charge surged from its chest down its arms. Two powerful bursts of electricity blasted across the contest grounds through the air, drawn straight back down by the skin in druddigon's wings. The attack took place over an instant, which was just enough time for the druddigon to slump and drag its claws in the stone ground. Given four paths to take to the ground, the electricity's damage dimished greatly, flowing from druddigon's wings to its feet and claws near evenly.

But honing its claws meant the druddigon began moving toward magmortar while dragging its claws through the ground. It didn't move quickly, but magmortar didn't move at all to get out of the way.

"Earthquake!"

Druddigon hopped into the air and slammed back down, pounding its sharpened claws into the rock and shaking the ground beneath the gym. It was well controlled, contained within only the area underfoot of the magmortar, whose trainer called "Focus Blast" with almost no warning. Yet instantly, those cannons blasted the ground and shattered the rocks just as the earthquake reached its intended target. I could hardly believe it, but by shattering the rocks beneath its feet at the moment of impact, the magmortar vastly reduced the damage of the attack. It hadn't avoided the quake entirely, but a mere stumble seemed to be the extent of the damage.

The druddigon's claws flashed as the dragon flailed wildly now that they were in close proximity. Magmortar stumbled back and held its cannons as a shield to avoid a flash slashes, but the dragon's claws kept coming as both pokémon stumbled across the now jagged terrain.

"Lava Plume."

Magmortar dropped the cannons to its sides and released a stream of fire that almost instantly hit the ground and then bounced back, billowing into the air surrounding the two pokémon and smothering them. For a moment we lost sight of the battle completely as the smoke spread across the entire field.

Long stared for a moment before calling, "Iron Tail!"

Perhaps because the two pokémon were still in close quarters, the druddigon's attack found its target, and the magmortar fell from the smoke back into view. Lying on its back and struggling to move, it was clearly hurt, though not yet out of the fight. Its body began to shine ever so subtly, maybe drawing in energy for another attack or to recover from the wound opened by the iron tail assault.

"We've got him," Long said. The druddigon hopped into the air again—the exact same motion it used to produce the earthquake a moment earlier.

"You've overlooked magmortar's Hidden Power." Magmortar's cannons rose just above the ground and released two blasts of blue energy that trailed through the air and brought a drop in the temperature. When the blasts hit druddigon—once in the arm and once in the belly—the dragon's inertia was spoiled and it fell sideways, landing on its side with a patch of ice on its belly and its claws frozen solid.

Long began to chuckle. "Hidden Power. A gutsy technique given its inconsistency."

"I find consistency of use and training helps to shape one's power," Nelson replied. Magmortar got to its feet before druddigon could. "Would you like another, or will that suffice for now?"

"Druddigon can have a break," Long agreed. "It was a hard match by both parties, but the Champion has won again. Should we have Round 2?" He withdrew the injured druddigon into its pokéball and awaited a response from his challenger.

With a grin, Nelson replied, "We wouldn't want to disappoint your students by putting on a subpar show now, would we? Besides, you need an opportunity to fight back." He looked to his pokémon and asked, "What do you say, Ozai?" The magmortar grunted, an act which coughed up a puff of smoke.

"Excellent. Here's one of my pokémon you may remember from our last battle." When the flash of the pokéball settled, the energy became a kingdra—a sleek, marine dragon that looked like it belonged in the water. It rested on the ground with its tail coiled much like a snake. It was an elegant, gorgeous creature, though it looked like an uphill battle for it outside of water.

Nelson didn't waste a moment once he saw the opponent. "Thunderbolt."

"Surf!"

This second time, I noticed it took magmortar a little longer to put together a Thunderbolt attack than it did for the Lava Plume, yet the attack was still ready just a little bit longer than instantly. That's what an attack looked like coming from a strong, experienced pokémon.

But the kingdra was strong, too. At the beck of its trainer, it began to fill the field with water. There was so much that it looked like it might drown magmortar. My heart skipped a few beats when I thought the battle was going to flood over and kill the trainers, too, but the water stopped just short of them both. That's when I realized why those two people up front were sitting with milotics: Their pokémon were using Light Screens to protect the trainers from the intensity of their pokémon's battle.

When the arena continued filling, I thought, _That can't all be from the kingdra._ The dragon was pretty tall, but it was way to small overall to produce that quantity of water. I wondered where the rest of it might come from when I noticed Long scratch his forehead. That act made me recognize it from several of the spectators, including Elliott. And my throat was dry. _That sly pokémon,_ I thought. _It's drawing moisture straight from the air to boost its attack without exhausting itself!_

It was a clever and effective way to battle. Even if magmortar had gone through the same type of waterlogged training Blade recommended there was no way its fire-type skin could continue fighting against all that water. Nelson was forced to withdraw and plan another attempt. At least kingdra wasn't unscathed. The thunderbolt attack surged through the water before magmortar was knocked out and jolted kingdra a few times. But now the sea dragon was at home inside a dome of water. Nelson would need something good to compete with that.

"You set up a difficult challenge," Nelson complimented Long. "Luckily, I have faced your kingdra before, and I'm ready this time." Without ever letting up on the Light Screen, Nelson's second pokémon appeared on the field at the surface of the water. It was basically a tall lizard complete with six seeds on its back and a cruciferous tail like a palm tree branch—a sceptile. And right away, I saw why he called that pokémon. Those seeds, and in general all of sceptile's skin, began absorbing the water and decreasing the level.

"Waterfall!"

Kingdra swam a few flips in the water and then whipped its tail strongly, causing water to rise above the surface in the arena and then fall straight back down on top of the sceptile. The force shoved sceptile underwater. It looked like a prime chance to attack, and Long couldn't pass it up. With the water still being absorbed by sceptile and by the ground, there was enough room for a bigger attack and for kingdra to remain mobile.

"Draco Meteor!"

With a few blasts of energy from its snout, kingdra transferred kinetic energy into the rocks at the ceiling of the arena. When the energy built greater than the rocks could handle, three rocks dislodged at high speeds, raining down where sceptile waited. That's the moment the lizard showed its speed. The water level finally hit low enough that sceptile could scurry and bend perfectly to avoid any direct hits, harmed only by castoff from the collisions and the dragon energy.

"Dragon Claw," Nelson spoke calmly, but it was like he never had. Sceptile continued scurrying and found kingdra directly, slashing with its claws and penetrating the kingdra's thick scales. "Again." Before kingdra could respond, sceptile found the dragon a second time with its powerful claws. I understand that from a biological perspective, a kingdra only has one weakness—dragon-type moves—and the sceptile laid on exactly that. The kingdra couldn't come back from that.

"I yield," Long announced as he withdrew his kingdra. "I am impressed and honored. You obtained a Hoenn native just to battle me."

"You always provide a challenge worthy of my fullest efforts," Nelson complimented him again. "One more? You still favor the three-on-three battle, right?"

"Of course. You have the advantage, though, with two pokémon remaining."

"Given the type of trainer you are, I'm sure it's only a minor advantage."

"I hope so. Let's finish this."

The water level had pretty much receded back into the ground completely. I figured since Long was down to his last pokémon, it had to be something big and nearly invincible. Maybe a dragonite or a hydreigon or something. But I was way off. His third pokémon was a serpentine arbok, which is known for extended the skin in its neck like a hood when threatened. The designs on its skin gave the impression of a frightening face to ward off predators. And this arbok's hood was wide open. I could see even that powerful sceptile showed its innate fear of the giant snake.

"An arbok?" I asked Elliott. "Isn't that kind of a low-power pokémon for a fight like this?"

"Are you stupid? Any trainer worth his salt doesn't pick pokémon based solely on power. A good trainer makes his pokémon powerful. Long is the best dragon trainer in the region. Arbok is a dragon pokémon. Do you really think this arbok is weak?"

"Not when you say it like that."

I guess I always figured the pokémon masters went around collecting only rare and powerful pokémon. I never really figured they'd collect common ones. I mean, I put an ekans in Brooke's sock drawer one time. I never thought back then that snake could potentially become one of the strongest pokémon in the region. That's what made the display with Long's arbok so entertaining.

"Is an arbok even a dragon?"

She scoffed. "Shut up and watch."

That arbok moved around the field with such grace that it might as well have been riding a wave. The sceptile showed its speed in its game of "keep away," but fear clearly had a solid grip on it and stopped it from holding still long enough to counterattack. If not for the milotic barriers, the fight might easily have gone to the walls and, potentially, the ceiling. Even the regional champ could only do so much to override a pokémon's instincts.

"Coil!" Long commanded. With that, the arbok gave up the chase and sat back, coiling its body for a future strike. The sceptile would have to be stupid to go near it!

After taking a moment to reflect on the situation, Nelson said, "Use Dragon Claw, but don't be too eager."

That was interesting to me. The sceptile didn't immediately begin the attack. It looked ready to go, but it obviously wasn't close enough in proximity to do it yet. But Coil was a move that made arbok more dangerous with each passing second. Someone was going to have to move soon.

"Gunk Shot!" Long shouted. Arbok was the first to blink. The snake whipped up and spewed wads of poisonous gunk at sceptile. The attack prompted sceptile to charge and start its Dragon Claw attack. Suddenly Arbok pulled its tail up high and slammed it back on the ground, causing a second earthquake that rattled the already-broken floor. Sceptile stumbled, and that was all she wrote. Arbok was immediately on the sceptile again with another Gunk Shot. The barrage nailed the lizard the second time. An attack that powerful from that range would be enough to knock out pokémon that didn't have weaknesses to poison attacks.

Nelson smiled as he pulled sceptile from the field. "That is one powerful arbok you have there," he complimented his opponent.

"Thank you. You have one last pokémon. Should I assume it is a psychic type?"

"It is," Nelson nodded. "And a flying type, too." He dropped a pokéball and summoned a creature I'd never seen before. It looked like a lanky, humanoid angel covered in bluish-grey fur. It had a long, blue mane, attached down its back to its wings, which shone brightly.

_065-Psyraph_

_Angel Pokémon_

_[Psychic] [Flying]_

_Average Height: 6'5"_

_Average Weight: 126.4 lb._

_Thought to be the guardian deity of the Kurigie tribe, intruders know this creature as the Archon of Storms due to its protective nature. This pokémon appears only when directly irradiated by the moon._

"Kurigie," I repeated to myself. That was the little furry pokémon Brooke had with her—the one that teleported her into our campsite a few days earlier. So this creature summoned by the Perioble Pokémon Champion was the same thing that I might come up against when I battle Brooke again in the future.

Long smiled, but it was an amused smile like he'd already conceded the match. I could see why: Psychic-types beat out poison-types almost every time. But there was also that little spark in his eye that said he would never give in. If Nelson really wanted to win, he'd have to earn it.

"Glare!"

"Psychic."

Arbok's hood spread wider than ever as the cobra pokémon practically screamed its hiss. Its eyes sparkled like diamonds, and the glare pierced the psyraph. Psyraph fell to the ground, struggling to flap its wings any longer. But a blast of energy distorted the air and struck arbok almost instantly. The intimidating pokémon slumped over, painfully taken down by the Psychic attack. It looked like the Champ was going to stay the Champ.

Both trainers withdrew their pokémon and met up in the middle of the arena to shake hands while all the spectators applauded their performance. I got to my feet and started to walk to the arena when Elliott grabbed my arm and yanked me back like I was a yo-yo.

"Ow! What was that for?"

She glared at me worse than that arbok. "You can't just go waltzing down there. They just finished battling. Give them some time."

"Fine. Sheesh. You know the guy invited me here, right?"

"Just settle down and wait for him to come to you."

I crossed my arms across my chest. "I hate waiting."

"You'll deal with it. It's part of growing up."

Also not something I had the patience for. I slumped in my seat to make it look like I was bored, but as soon as Elliott loosened up, I darted from my seat and down into the arena. She yelled behind me something that sounded like "Too inebriate!" but it didn't slow me down. How many chances was the regional champ going to get to meet me before I showed up outside his office and took his title away?

"Anthony couldn't overstate your energy level," Long said to me. I don't think he appreciated being interrupted. But Nelson didn't seem to mind. He extended his hand and offered up a smile. "Nelson, this is Gus, a friend of Anthony's from Natrium Village."

"Oh, I love Natrium Village. Everything's so peaceful and quiet out that way. How long has it been since you've been home?"

"About the time they kicked me out."

That elicited shocked looks from both men. Nelson calmly replied, "You're kidding! Eddie did that? He still stands in my mind as one of the most reasonable and level-headed people I've met in all my travels."

I scoffed angrily. "Did he seem superstitious? Because that's pretty much how I remember him."

"There's only one thing I know of that would get the quaint people of that village superstitious enough to kick out one of their own." His eye drifted around quickly, as if he were checking to be sure no one else could hear what we were talking about. "Have you ever heard of the mermaid pokémon?"

"I have. Clemson, right?" When both Long and Nelson furrowed their brows, I replied, "That's not right. Clenbuterol? Or is it Cleanliness? Hmm. I want to say Clendine, but that just sounds stupid."

Long gave Nelson a good, hard look as if trying to size me up. "There's a rumor floating around lately about an ancient pokémon that got loose after it attack Natrium. Would you know anything about it?"

"I know she never attacked Natrium. She just woke up and burst out into the ocean."

Nelson sighed heavily. "Clendine is probably just a legend, but Eddie from Natrium Village already requested an investigation with the Elite Four. You shouldn't worry about her. You should focus on improving your skills. I hear you've got a dragon pokémon you want Long to help you train."

"Yeah," I said, happily forgetting about Clendine and my exile from home. "I bought a dragmor while I was in Cuprum. I tried to play around with her some on my way up the mountain, but I really haven't had much chance to train her for battle yet."

Offering a smile to the gym leader beside him, Nelson repeated, "A dragmor? I'm pretty sure Long can come up with a training exercise or two for you."

"I will not be able to spend the time on you two today," Long told me with a long face. "I've already arranged to meet with Anthony for lunch. Sort of an apology for my match yesterday running late and causing me to miss dinner with him. But I will set you up with one of my fitness instructors to get you started." To Nelson, he added, "You should join us for lunch."

Curious and nosy, I asked, "How do you know Golden Skier? Or, uh, Anthony, I guess is the name he's going by these days."

Nelson told me, "Anthony is the director of the Pokémon City amusement park in Plumbum Town. I go there every year for a weekend retreat. I heard he was in the city this week. I haven't had the good fortune to run into him yet, though. I will gladly join you for lunch." The Champ patted me on the shoulder and said, "Gus, it was a pleasure meeting you. I do hope you continue taking the gym challenge so that I'll get to see you again one day. And like I said, don't worry about Clendine. The Marshals and the Elite Four are out there looking for her. She'll turn up soon enough."

"Yes, sir. I'll let you guys do the hard part and investigate. I'll just do the easy part and prepare to claim your title one day."

I would have expected some sort of disappointment from him, but he smiled and let out a little chuckle. "I hope you do, Gus. I can't stay the champion forever. I need someone from the next generation to show me how things are changing and take the lead for a while." He clapped me on the back hard, but affectionately. "You take care, Gus. I can't wait to see you again."

There was a time when I thought running the gym circuit was just a way to kill time. But right then, with those optimistic words straight from the Pokémon Champion himself, I couldn't help feeling excited. Maybe I should become the champ.

* * *

><p><em>Hello, everyone! I'm so sorry I neglected to update for so long. I've been working on my own original novel and needed to focus on it for a while. If anyone's interested in hearing more, let me know and I'll give you a little teaser. 80)<em>

_I've been itching to get back into this story, and what better way to apologize for my absence than by introducing the region's champ! If you want a good mental image of him, I think he looks and talks like Morgan Freeman. I gave him the name Nelson because Morgan Freeman portrayed Nelson Mandela in the movie Invictus. This was also an introduction to the next gym leader Gus will face. And he didn't even reveal his ace yet. There wasn't a lot of story in this chapter, but there was a significant emotional step for Gus regarding his commitment to his journey._  
><em>Of course, thanks go to <strong>Kurono-Angel<strong> for contributing Elliot to the story._

_**Trivia:** Psyraph = psychic + seraph_  
><em>If you don't remember from before (I think I said it already), the gyms in Perioble are based on egg groups instead of types. That's why Long uses pokémon that look like dragons without actually being dragons.<em>

Kurono-Angel 


	29. Heat Wave

Heat Wave

The instant my body hit the water, I felt its regenerative powers relaxing my muscles and soothing my skin. The steam smelled slightly sulfuric, but the scent was underwhelming yet strong enough to clear my sinuses right up. More importantly, the feeling returned to my toes. Spending all day climbing rocks in the ice-capped mountains did a number on my poor piggies. But right away the hot springs lived up to their reputation.

"'This is so perfectly relaxing…'" I changed my tone quickly to a harsh one. "…is what I _would_ say if this weren't a pool full of guys!" Two middle-aged men were talking about how good the water was for their arthritis, four men were hanging out in the corner and staring at the volleyball game, one guy my age had planted himself and a few vials of spring water nearby, and Blade sat in a little nook not far from me. Seriously, this was supposed to be a co-ed hot spring. Where were all the women?

"Lauren opted for the women's private spring," Blade reminded me. He motioned toward the farther fence of the two private springs. The closer one was private for men, but I had chosen not to go there because the rules varied by spring, and I wanted to keep my shorts on. The private springs were fenced in for good reason.

I peered through the steam in that direction. "So you're saying that Lauren would rather go nude?"

"Than be in a hot spring with you, yes," Blade said, finishing my sentence. "Besides, you wouldn't want to see that."

I smirked at him. "Are you sure? She's got to be, like, twenty."

"She's twenty-one."

"Yeah. So I'm saying, she's got to be fully grown. You think I'd lose interest just because she's annoying?"

"Sure. Believe that if it makes you happy."

"That was rather cryptic. How can anything be worse than her personality?"

He glared at me, which was weird. He had finally taken off those sunglasses, but the steam was too thick for me to see anything weird. It looked like he had green eyes, but that was hardly a characteristic worth hiding. Maybe he was afraid people could control his soul if they could see his eyes. He kept the sunglasses within reach, too, just in case someone got close enough to see him. He'd rather be blind than seen, I guessed. As far as I could tell, he had two human eyeballs in his skull, so I couldn't tell what the fuss was about.

But there was something else to fuss about. "Lauren has a scar."

"A scar? Are we talking, like, she had an accident as a kid, or she has a tattoo of a cartoon lion?"

He shifted uncomfortably and looked around. Blade scooted a few feet closer to me and lowered his voice. "This isn't my secret to share, but I want to tell you so maybe you'll lay off her a bit. I won't swear you to secrecy or anything, but if you use this as fodder to make jokes about her, rest assured you will go back down the mountain the fast way." His gaze made _me_ shift uncomfortably that time. His left eye, now close enough to see, shimmered in the steam. He was serious about his threat. Regardless of how much of a pain she was to me and to him, he really cared about Lauren.

"Okay. I promise I'll give her a break."

"Good. Are you familiar with conjoined twins?"

"Was that the two-steak lunch special, or is that when the zygote fails to divide completely? I always get those two mixed up."

Ignoring my comment, he explained, "She was originally two people, but before she was born, Lauren absorbed her twin sister into her body. The problem was the process was incomplete. When she was born, her sister's arm grew out of her back."

I flinched violently at that suggestion. The image was vivid in my mind. "Holy crap. You're kidding!"

He shook his head. "The doctors were able to remove the arm surgically, but the whole ordeal left a scar that has grown consistently as she's aged, getting bigger with each growth spurt. It pretty much extends the length of her back from shoulder to hip. She's lucky she's done growing."

"No kidding."

"I'm sure in that fifteen-year-old brain of yours, there's some perverse compliment in the fact that you find Lauren physically alluring, but if you ever saw her back and reacted harshly, it might kill her. And that's not a metaphor. She's suffered so much physical and emotional pain from it over the years that she attempted suicide twice."

"Geez." I had no idea Blade was going to give me a story like that. To think the woman who picked unfounded fights with me on practically a daily basis actually suffered from a deep-seated depression. "Is she okay now? What's to stop her from trying it again?"

Blade shrugged. "For right now? Me." I could see the sincerity in his body language. "I understand her pain. She can always lean on me, and I frequently push her to do that just to make sure I always know where her head is. But in terms of her reason for continuing, Team Omega gives her purpose. Valence promised her the technology we recover can help advance medical science by leaps and bounds. She believes in that goal. The idea of being pain-free is enough to keep her going."

The cold feeling that washed over me during that story prompted me to submerge myself from the neck down in the hot spring water. I couldn't think of a response to that. I felt bad for Lauren, but other than shutting my mouth every time I saw her, what else could I do?

"How do you understand her pain? Are you scarred, too?"

He laughed, which confused me. Was that a good sign? "No physical scars on me."

"That's not why you wear those sunglasses all the time?"

"No. My only scar is emotional. Remember when you asked if my foster parents were my motivation for being a strong trainer? The important point is that my parents abandoned me when I was nine. As nice as they were, I couldn't stand my foster parents at that point. I just kept waiting for them to abandon me, too. At least they supported my decision to become a trainer and start my own journey. My only goal was to get away from all the people who would abandon me."

"Interesting that you feared abandonment by joining Team Omega."

"Well, I needed sufficient support and my foster parents are not rich people. Team Omega offers me incredible resources and a chance to practice the training I craved when I left my foster parents. I may not be much of a team player, but I do have faith in Lauren and in Valence. I'll do whatever I can to protect her and whatever I can to help Valence achieve his goals."

I hummed amusedly at the thought. That level of faith in Team Omega never even crossed my mind. "What did Valence promise you?"

"He assured me I would never be without a home."

"Wow. That's intense."

"Yeah." He leaned back and grabbed his glasses. "I think I'm done for now." He climbed out of the spring and grabbed his towel. "You staying?"

"A little while," I replied. Pointing across to the sand castle being built by a group of kids and their parents, I clarified, "I want to see what happens when their sand castle collapses. They're using way too much water to solidify the sand. It's going to turn into one giant sinkhole before they put the spire on that onion dome."

Blade didn't care how I knew about sand castles. He said, "Don't stay in too long or you'll turn into a prune." And with that, he wandered back into the locker room to grab his clothes. I stayed and, thirty seconds later, the sand castle collapsed under the weight of a simple spire.

Blade left just a few minutes too early, too. The advantage to hanging out in the co-ed springs showed itself. Three young women with the lean bodies of seasoned skiers walked out of the women's locker room wearing form-fitting swimsuits. Their legs especially were tight like they were chiseled from stone. They looked to be in their late twenties, maybe early thirties, but that wouldn't stop me from chatting them up anyway. What stopped me were the three guys of equivalent age who walked out of the men's locker room and joined the women. Each of them was at least as fit as his girlfriend, which meant all three guys were more ripped than I'd ever been.

"Oh, well," I mumbled as I resigned myself to just admiring the women instead.

But the other guy was still playing with test tubes. He didn't even notice the hot women nearby, and that caught my attention. I moved down the length of the spring to get a better look. He was a slim guy though he looked fairly lean. I doubt those women would have been interested in his big legs, but he probably spent some time skiing while he was in town. He didn't strike me as a resident. His hair was shaved into a Mohawk, a style I thought was long done until I started traveling and saw two men with one.

"Excuse me," I called out to him. He nervously looked up and froze in place like he thought I was going to jump right out of the pool and bum rush him. I waved to show my friendly intentions. "I was just wondering what you're doing. There are three incredibly hot women right there and you're not even looking."

They were, though. All three women and their boyfriends were looking at me. I waved back to them. "Sorry. I meant for that to come out a lot quieter." Fortunately, I was half their age and so the women thought I was just cute and hormonal and the men saw me as no threat to their love lives. They were all correct in their assumptions.

"I only came here to study the microorganisms in the springs," the guy told me nervously. He sounded like the kind of guy who spent more time with his face on a microscope than in a social setting. "There's bound to be something quite fascinating in these waters considering a once extinct volcano suddenly began producing steam again years later."

"Years later?" I repeated.

"Yes. Normally an extinct volcano ceases to be a convenient source of hot springs. It would another argument altogether if the volcano were merely dormant, but geologists are at a consensus that Mount Palladium is done erupting permanently. I'm eager to see what kinds of prokaryotes live in here as compared with when the volcano was still active." He blushed, or maybe he suddenly realized how hot it was. "Sorry. Prokaryotes are—"

"I know. They've been playing long enough that they're no longer amateur karyotes. I watch ESPN."

He made a face at me. "Um. That's not really what it means. They're cells that have nuclei without membranes."

"I've heard it both ways."

"Really?" He hummed as if seriously considering it. "I don't know what a karyote is, so I'll just have to take your word for it." My joking reply went right over his head.

I smiled. "I like your go-with-the-flow attitude. What have you found so far?"

"Nothing yet. I'm just collecting samples to take back to the lodge so I can study them."

"There's a lab in the lodge?"

"In my rented room there is. Not a full lab—just some equipment I brought with me. My name's Alm, by the way. Well, it's Ulmanac, but I go by Alm for short."

"I'm Gus, which is short enough, I think." I stood up so the water was only at my waist, trying to get a look at the notebook Alm was scribbling in. "What are you writing?"

"Notes regarding where and when I collected these samples. I've collected five samples every day since I got here."

"How long ago was that?"

"Four days. This city is fascinating. The dichotomy between the halves of the city is like night and day. The hot springs are amazing enough, but the fact that the man-made beach environment has maintained itself all this time is inexplicable."

"What do you mean? Doesn't the ground produce the heat for the hot springs?"

"I don't think so. Mount Palladium was declared to be extinct because there's no magma underground anymore. The rocks do naturally get hotter as they go farther down and get closer to the planet's core, but the water would have to percolate—or drip—all the way down there and come back up in order to produce this level of heat without magma."

"What if a series of pipes were installed, like plumbing?"

Alm shrugged. "I guess it's possible. I'm a microbiologist—not a geologist. I've only taken one geology class so far. It's not possible to assess any pipelines without seeing them. Maybe some kind of pipe reaches far into the planet's crust and pulls the hot air up. If someone says there are pipes underground heating the springs, maybe that's the case. They'd probably be installed right over there where they don't interfere with the rest of the city."

How interesting. Even if he wasn't a geologist, Alm sounded confident with his claim. A series of plumping set up to heat the springs without magma seemed unlikely, but possible. Normally that wouldn't even interest me, but I got this nagging feeling in my brain that told me to check it out.

I climbed out of the spring and towel-dried myself. "It was nice meeting you, Alm."

He looked nervous. "Was it something I said?"

"Yes it was. Thank you." I went into the locker room and changed back into my autumn clothes. I had a feeling I wouldn't need the heavy coat where I was going. But I figured Blade and Lauren might want to tag along. It might lift their spirits after telling me such a depressing story. I found Blade waiting outside the women's hot spring for Lauren, who exited the building shortly after I approached.

"It's you," she grumbled.

"I missed you, too," I replied cheerfully. She was annoyed, but she was going to be like that no matter what I said. "There's something here we should investigate." I told them what Alm said about the extinct volcano and what Elliot said about the pipes.

Blade frowned. "So you just want to go check out the plumbing?"

"Yep. Maybe the technology here will be useful for the research department of Team Omega to study, if they haven't already. We should go check it out and take pictures at least."

Lauren shook her head. "It's likely the research department inspired the plumbing that restored the hot springs. We'd just be wasting our time."

"Fair enough. I guess I'll go down there by myself. Who knows? Maybe I'll run into another member of my secret organization that seeks to defy Team Omega's will. Maybe my sister's in town."

I didn't really have such an organization, but that got their attention. Especially Lauren's, who was already convinced I was pure evil and plotting against her directly. At least it got them to follow me while I searched for a way underground. Not that I was scared of the dark or anything, but backup was a good idea in case there were any wild pokémon down there.

"Do you even know where to look?" Lauren retorted. She was dressed in long pants and a turtleneck sweater. It seemed like a good combination for someone almost literally walking the border between summer and winter.

"No idea. But how hard can it be to find the plumbing here? We can start by figuring out the hottest spots in town. Pretty easy to guess those are the hot springs. If there really is a series of pipes that transfer gas to heat the springs, there must be some way of going down there for maintenance. Everything breaks down once in a while."

Blade said, "I'm confused. Why do you think there's anything fishy going on?" He was dressed in his thick clothes and carrying his heavy coat. He obviously planned to head into the snow area soon.

"That science nerd who was playing with the test tubes told me that when Mount Palladium went extinct, the heat disappeared for a long time. Mayor Charlie found some way to bring the heat, and I feel like that has to have something to do with why the Marshals are looking for her."

"What?" Lauren shouted. "The Marshals are looking for her?"

I paused. "Well, actually I don't have any proof of that one. But my gut tells me something's up."

"We should turn her in," Lauren insisted. "If you know where to find someone they're looking for, it's your civic obligation to tell them and turn her in." I wondered if she even heard the part where I said I had no evidence.

"Does this science nerd have a name?" Blade asked cynically.

"I can't remember. He kept asking me for money to buy a calendar. But he knew big words like 'prokaryote' and 'consensus.' That's got to be worth something, right?" He didn't look convinced. I noticed that sheer honesty thing he claimed to follow didn't stop him from keeping secrets. "You don't have to come if you don't believe me. I just get this gut feeling that something's wrong, and I'm going to check it out."

Lauren immediately took a step forward. "I'm going with you."

Blade and I were equally shocked. "Really?"

"Of course. I'm a member of Team Omega, and I won't shy away from Omega business. Valence instructed me to escort this malcontent through this city, and that's exactly what I'm going to do." The fact that she didn't like me wouldn't stop her from helping me when Valence instructed her to escort me through Argentum City. She seemed offended by the very notion that she might let her personal feelings get in the way of her orders.

I cracked a grin. She was a character, alright. And like he already confessed, if Lauren was going with me, Blade would be there to back us up.

"Alright, then. Let's go!"

We followed the streets toward the southern edge of the city where Alm had suggested the plumbing might be located. It seemed like a sensible place to start. Plumbing usually involved a series of pipes which might get in the way of basements and other luxuries sported in the high-class homes of Argentum City. They'd also need to be near the springs, or else the designer was an idiot for drawing pipes all the way across the city.

Two men stood in the middle of the path out of town, blocking our way if we had been trying to leave. They wore heavy snow clothes florescent green in color. Maybe they were worried about getting lost in the mountains and wanted to be visible from outer space just in case they couldn't find their way back.

"Whoa, whoa!" one of them shouted when he saw us. "You kids can't go this way."

Lauren sneered, "'Kids'?"

"The mountain's experiencing a whiteout. It's too dangerous."

"It ain't a whiteout," the second argued. He turned so sharply he almost knocked his partner down the mountain path. "It's only a whiteout if you can't see anything. This is just a blizzard."

That certainly looked to be the case. But I didn't care either way. "We're not leaving town."

"Oh. Then there's no problem. Go about your business."

Blade got my attention and asked, "Won't we need to descend the mountain a ways before we can get underneath the city?"

"Not this way." I pointed to the small, rocky path that trailed off toward the eastern side of the city. It was a shallow descent, but there was no blizzard blocking the way. In fact, the path had no snow at all. "No snow during a blizzard? This is the way we'll find the source of the heat."

"Good catch," Lauren said. It didn't even sound like an insult. I tilted my head in curiosity, and she quickly added, "Just get going."

The trail started off with a gradual descent, but it dipped drastically as soon as it wrapped around the mountain. I probably never would have seen the path from the city, even if I were standing at the very edge of the cliffs and peering over the side. The trail obviously wasn't meant to be seen by the common resident. In my mind, that was only further evidence that my suspicions about the hot springs were correct. Despite the intense slope of the path, I picked up the pace so I could find my answers even sooner.

A small opening awaited me straight beside and far underneath the hot springs. It wasn't big enough to be considered a cave. It was just a crack in the side of the mountain, but I felt a distinct spike in air temperature coming from the fissure. It was the best way to get inside the mountain, but it was an incredibly uncomfortable fit. I was as slender as a guy my age can get, yet the fissure was almost too narrow for me to get through.

"This is odd," Blade said.

"What is?" I asked, figuring he was making fun of my flexibility as I wormed my way through the rocks, acquiring a scratch or two along the way.

"If there were truly pipes intended to heat the water of the springs, why block them off by enclosing the entrance in the side of the mountain?" He folded his arms across his chest and let out a long, annoyed sigh. "I hate to admit it, but you were right. Something suspicious is going on here."

My responding scoff came out as a sputter. "I told you so."

* * *

><p><em>First off, thanks go to <strong>1shot1bownty3<strong> for Blade and **Lunary Canary** for Alm. Thanks also to all of you who read this week after week. We're getting closer to finding the secret of Blade's sunglasses, and Alm will appear again later, too. Don't worry if your character hasn't shown yet. We're still only on the third badge.  
>In the next chapter, the Omegas will seek out the source of Argentum City's heat wave. What will they find beneath the mountain?<em>

_**Trivia:** The birth defect described for Lauren is called polymelia. It can be caused by one of conjoined twins degenerating in utero, but not completely._  
><em>Did you catch the reference to Scar from The Lion King?<em>


	30. Frustration

_Recap: Blade told Gus about a huge scar Lauren received from being born with polymelia. Gus realized the hot springs were unnatural and convinced Blade and Lauren to join him on an excursion underground to find the source of the heat._

* * *

><p>Frustration<p>

I didn't expect to find a lot of wild pokémon beneath the hot springs of Argentum City. I would have thought that having a series of tunnels underneath the city and the springs would risk a collapse with all that weight on top of the stone. But almost immediately when Blade, Lauren, and I wandered into the tunnel, we were approached by an angry mob of magbies. Needless to say, it got hot quickly.

"Aw, look at them. They're so—!" I was going to say "cute," but one of them spat a fireball that would have hit me if I weren't really good at panicking and falling out of the way. They weren't so cute after that.

Blade and Lauren quickly summoned their blaziken and croconaw to battle the small swarm. Not to be left out, I tossed Conch's pokéball, and my fishtain showed up raring for battle. "I need your help. Use Fish Kick!" I told him.

He danced around a bit before finally turning his attention to the pair of magbies that approached him with a coordinated Tackle. Since growing feet, he was more full of energy than ever before. He hopped to his left leg and spun around with his right leg out, kicking up a wave that swept completely through the tunnel and washed up against all the magbies, trained pokémon, and trainers. The water caught me off guard, but it actually felt somewhat refreshing considering how high the temperature spiked.

One magby got back to its feet, grabbed some of the fresh mud on the ground, and hurled it at Conch with incredible accuracy, nailing him right in the eye. Conch spat into his hands and wiped the mud from his eyes while the two magbies began to alternate their fireballs in rapid succession. Each fireball that hit Conch burst into a wider flame before dissipating into the air. Each hit pushed him back a little. One of the flames hit my jacket and might have set it ablaze if not for being soaked by Conch's attack.

"Return the favor, Conch. Use Mud Shot!"

Conch endured another fireball like a trooper and then pushed himself forward and kicked up a small mist to protect him from the next fireball momentarily. With time to find his feet, he scooped up two handfuls of mud and allowed some of his natural moisture to seep in. Another fireball came his way by that point. He dove over it, rolled along the ground, and used the momentum to toss the ball of mud into one magby's face, carrying the creature off its feet and flat onto its back. The second magby stopped to look, and Conch took advantage to pelt it in the back with the second Mud Shot.

Finally all the magbies were sick of fighting and ran off into the dark corners of the tunnel. Conch started after them, but he stopped a few meters in front of me. He knew I couldn't follow him through such tight spaces and he didn't want to leave me behind. The blaziken and croconaw were too big to follow, too. So we were all stuck following the main tunnel.

"That was exciting," I commented.

Lauren scoffed at me. "You should always be prepared for battle. Wild pokémon don't like having their territory invaded. Many species would rather attack than hide when they feel threatened."

"Noted." I checked Conch for injuries. Fortunately, he hadn't suffered too badly—just a few burns on his skin. I pulled a potion from my satchel and gently rubbed the salve on each wound. Conch didn't wince the same way I did whenever someone put ointment on me. He actually seemed to enjoy the sensation. If it's possible to imagine it from a fish-man, I'm pretty sure he was smiling.

Blade tossed me a small bottle. "Give him that, too."

It was a general antidote designed to nullify the poison of most pokémon. "Why?"

"That mud the magby threw at your fishtain was poisoned," he explained. "Even inside his pokéball, if you don't cure that poison, your pokémon will suffer for it."

"But he doesn't look poisoned." At the mention of poison, I remembered what Conch did when I first met him.

* * *

><p><em>As I moved for a third try, the fish began spraying me in the face—more like spitting a solid stream at me. "That's real mature."<em>

_Suddenly the fish revealed to me that it had hands. It raised its hands to me as if offering me a prize. The only thing in its hands was a puddle of water. With how thirsty I was, I figured, "What's the worst that can happen?" I mean, really? It's salt water, fish already poop in it… As long as I didn't dwell on its scaly, webbed fingers, taking water from that fish man was no worse than drinking it straight from the source. At least this way the fish didn't splash me._

_When I sipped the water, it was the sweetest-tasting water I ever tried. Granted I was so parched I probably would have said the same thing if I tried drinking krabby juice. But it didn't taste salty at all. How odd._

* * *

><p>"I think the mergeants and fishtains have some sort of natural resistance to poison," I suggested. Or I might be wrong and it was plain, dumb luck, but poison would leave some sort of sign like purple skin or increased fatigue, and Conch looked fine. I stroked his skin for a moment and recalled him into the pokéball to rest until the next time magbies attacked.<p>

Lauren scoffed at me. "I'm surprised you're even trainer enough to have a potion on you. Doesn't surprise me you're the type to ignore poison."

"Did you want to take the lead?"

She sputtered while she withdrew her croconaw and folded her arms across her chest. Blade likewise withdrew his blaziken.

"Alright then. Let's continue. Please don't antagonize the line leader." It was kind of fun being snarky and mean right back to her. But I didn't linger on the feeling. The more pressing matter was figuring out what was going on down in these tunnels.

According to my pokédex, a growing horde of magbies indicates a volcanic eruption is coming. That certainly didn't encourage me too much. The heat suggested an eruption could be possible, but the volcano was extinct! Alm seemed certain that geologists declared it extinct because the magma dried up. Was it possible for the magma to replenish itself? Could pokémon do it?

I had to stop with those thoughts. My motivation started slipping when I thought we might be wandering straight toward our fiery deaths. At least the cave wasn't very dark. I could see well where I was going. If it were dark _and_ felt like a sauna, I'd probably have given up and run scared already. But my drive was renewed when I found a TM lying on the ground beside a couple of rocks. It was labeled as Thunder Wave. But what stood out to me was the very fact that a TM on the ground suggested a trainer had been by, and the condition of the disc suggested that trainer was by recently.

"Is this beginning to look familiar to you, Blade?" Lauren asked.

Blade looked around and said, "It is."

As we moved, the rocky terrain of the mountain continued in the background seemingly forever, every slight turn looking largely the same save a stray stalagmite here and there. But we stepped past the naturally eroded floors of the mountain cave and onto floors made of stone blocks. The stalagmites became stone pillars that held up the stone ceiling. The air was hot, but the scent wasn't completely natural. It smelled stale. Some of that was the smoke leftover from the magbies' fire, but much of it was like air that hadn't moved for years. Every breath filled my nose with dust.

In fact, the air did smell somewhat familiar. I smelled it once in the desert, and again underground beneath the mountains. It wasn't the exact same because the environment was different each time, but it stirred the same memories.

"This is a fire temple, isn't it?" I said. My cohorts' reluctance to say anything answered the question for me. Suddenly I had a sneaking suspicion about the true cause of the heat. And every step deeper through the tunnel brought even hotter air.

Not all the dust had settled. Some drag marks indicated a place where someone with a staggering gait had walked through the area recently. There were also signs of pokémon tracks. Whoever staggered through there may have made the trip multiple times, sometimes needing something to carry him back down the tunnel.

"Now _that_ looks familiar," I said. The temple environment led us to a big, round door with a grid-shaped puzzle. It was the same grid I saw in the Moon Temple and in the Gnome Temple. But it wasn't a puzzle waiting to be solved. Like in the Gnome Temple, the pegs were already in place. I recognized the shape as being similar to the one on the outside of the Dragon Gym. That meant the door was unlocked, though it was closed. On closer examination, I found the pegs were pretty much stuck in place. It would have taken a strong yank to remove any of them from their places.

Except for one peg. The one closest to the bottom of the puzzle was loose like it was supposed to be. Curious.

"It's hotter here than anywhere else we've been," Blade commented.

Lauren agreed, "Then we might've found what we were looking for." She looked at me. "Does that puny body of yours come with any muscle at all, or are we going to have to push without you?"

Instead of fighting with her, I actually kind of agreed with her. "A guy approximately five times my size struggled against the weight of the door, but I see no reason the three of us who have no noticeable muscle tone can't accomplish the same feat." She didn't respond to that. Apparently the trick to shutting her up was telling her she was right.

The instant Blade touched the door, he pulled his hand back. "That's hot!"

"Really?" I asked, and then performed the completely stupid and human act of touching the door with my own fingers. It was like touching the electric stove about three minutes after turning it off: It didn't sear the skin off, but it definitely caught my attention. "Yeowch! This should be fun to shove open."

"Push it with your shoulder," Lauren suggested as she leaned against the door without pain. Well, nothing from the door. She still looked like she was dying with that jacket on.

Blade leaned into the door the same way and said, "Alright. On three."

"Wait," I protested, prompting an exasperated sigh from each of them. "Do you mean _on_ three, or you'll count to three and _then_ we go?"

"_On_ three," he answered. "It's hot in here, and it's always faster to go _on_ three."

With that cleared up, I was ready to go. Together we shoved on the door, not really sure what we'd see on the other side. But like Blade suggested, whoever had been through here before and opened the door a few times loosened it, and it actually moved pretty easily. The instant the door broke contact with the frame, we were blasted by the heat coming from inside. Immediately, I felt my two options were to pass out or to reduce the layers of clothing on me. We had all entered the tunnel with three layers: under garments, sweats, and snow gear. I stripped right down to my undershorts on the spot, not even concerned with the fact that I lacked any kind of muscular definition. Blade and Lauren reacted to the heat similarly, though both of them kept their t-shirts on, too. To finish pushing the door open, I wrapped my hands in my shirt and jacket before giving one final push to slide the door open the rest of the way.

The inside of the room was about the same size as it had been inside the Moon Temple and the Gnome Temple. Two sconces lit the room from raised platforms on either side, and a raised platform in the middle of the room presented a pokéball in prominent display, though its contents were empty. Like in the Gnome Temple, the pokéball was broken open, and I already knew where the former tenant went. Fire spouts shot from the floor all over the room while a large, fiery dragon pokémon struggled to capture its quagsire prey. Its body was long and sleek, covered with smooth skin that looked hard as scales. It had no wings, short legs, and a long tail, yet it snaked through the fight with the fluidity of water.

"What is that?" I wondered in awe. My trusty pokédex held the answer.

_370-Salamorder_

_Salamander Pokémon_

_[Fire] [Dragon]_

_Average Height: 13'8"_

_Average Weight: 9212.4 lb._

_It is believed that this pokémon is where humans first obtained fire. After its flames destroyed entire cities during the Machine War, its fires purified the region's soil and enriched it with nutrients to promote regrowth._

"Salamorder!" Blade exclaimed. "The Salamander Temple was here? In the coldest place in all of Perioble?"

I asked, "What's going on?"

Without taking her eyes off the wonder of the legendary dragon before us, Lauren explained, "Blade has been curious about Salamorder ever since he heard the legend. We both assumed it was only a legend, the same as the other pokémon. And who would have expected to find the region's strongest fire pokémon surrounded by ice and snow?"

"Yeah, that's nice," I replied flippantly. "I meant to ask: What's going on _here_? What are those two guys doing?"

My attention was on the two men who stood in the room, each wearing what looked like neon green leotards. One of them stood beside one of the sconces giving commands to the scrambling quagsire and to his poliwhirl waiting on the sidelines. The second man stood much closer to us and the door with a vaporeon and a palpitoad by his side, all just waiting and watching the battle unfold.

"Are they actually battling Salamorder?" I wondered.

Lauren said, "It looks that way."

"To what end?" Blade shouted exasperatedly. "They'll never be able to capture a legendary pokémon like that no matter how long they battle it or how much they wear it down." That actually seemed to be the main battle strategy. Whenever the quagsire took a big hit and looked ready to pass out, the poliwhirl blasted it with a Water Gun attack to restore its health so it could continue battling.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked. He glared at me like I'd issued a personal challenge. "I'm just saying, Brooke captured Gnomoder, didn't she? It's obviously possible."

He clenched his teeth and balled both hands into fists. "Rock-types are weaker than fire-types. Or else Gnomoder _let_ her capture him for some reason. Those are the only explanations that make any sense. Salamorder won't be taken in so easily by these two idiots."

There's a psychological thing about humans that I learned when I was real young. No matter how crowded or noisy the place you're in, you'll still hear it when someone says your name out loud. It's called the cocktail effect. That effect is why the Elder always began his conversations with me by saying my name loudly and firmly, and it's the only reason I could come up with why the guy standing near the door hadn't heard a word we said until the moment Blade called him an idiot.

"Hey!" he shouted in confusion. His expression was that of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Trust me, I know that expression. "What are you guys doing here?"

His cry of surprise also surprised the guy conducting the battle, but not Salamorder. The dragon's flaming jaws clamped down hard on the quagsire, which couldn't react without its master's commands. The trainer quickly withdrew the quagsire into its pokéball to be revived later before Salamorder could eat it entirely. Both men scrambled their remaining pokémon to try to subdue the legendary dragon, but their rhythm had already been thrown off, and Salamorder had built up a lot of frustration during the battle.

"Uh oh."

One look at us and Salamorder became even more frustrated. Without so much as rearing back or any kind of buildup, it spewed a column of flame at us bigger than the advanced ski slopes offered outside. We three Omegas quickly pulled back through the door and watched the fire shoot through the door like a flamethrower.

"I wasn't expecting this when I said we should come down here," I shouted. "What do we do now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Blade asked. "We have to quell Salamorder's rage and stop those green morons from hurting it any further." He summoned his blaziken Blaze and ran back into the room.

Lauren summoned her croconaw Spitz. "Bring up the rear!" she told me as she followed Blade.

I just rolled my eyes. Everyone thought _I_ was reckless. Then again, they hadn't lost two battles against these legendary pokémon the way I already had. I summoned Conch to my side again. He looked ready to go. "Oh well. Third time's the charm, right?" Once the door was clear, Conch and I turned and ran into the stage room.

"Whoops!" I dove clumsily to the side when another flame spout shot at me. Conch took some of the damage as the flames licked his moist scales. His resistance to fire helped him, but even a glancing blow from that legendary fire burned him badly.

"You capture the idiots!" Lauren shouted at me. She turned her attention to Salamorder and shouted for Spitz to use Bubblebeam. Spitz blasted a barrage of bubbles that pelted the fire dragon. "We'll battle this thing!"

"Really?" They were planning to take down a pokémon of legendary power with just the two of them. That seemed pretty crazy. On the other hand… "I have to battle two guys at once! That's way harder!"

"Just shut up and do it!"

Sure. Easy for her to shout and scream with authority. She had more practice at it. I had to figure out how to battle against two trainers and their four pokémon while simultaneously avoiding the searing flames of that legendary dragon in the relatively tight confines of the room. I forced a laugh. "This should be a piece of cake. I could battle four and a _half_ pokémon like this and still win!"

Neon Grunt 1 shouted at me, "You kids are crazy! You'll ruin everything!"

"Oh, really? What, exactly, are we ruining?"

"Salamorder is what we use to control the city's temperature!"

"You mean you aren't trying to capture it?"

"We don't want it," he explained.

And then Neon Grunt 2 bopped the first one on the head. "You idiot! Of course we want it. But even after three years of trying, we've never been able to. That dragon is just too powerful. All we can do is battle with it and force it to heat up this side of the mountain."

"Right," agreed the first. "People pay lots of money to go to a ski resort where they don't have to be cold."

"I see." That explained all of it. The mysterious Argentum City where the summer and winter exist side by side. It was all due to the power of a fire pokémon stronger than any other, sealed underground. "Do you guys have to work in shifts in order to keep the heat going? I imagine your pokémon can't take all that battling for so long."

"Nope! Not against that!" Neon Grunt 2 agreed. "We're the last shift of the day before the boss comes to check on us."

I grinned. "Good. Then it'll be easy to catch her in the act." I tossed a second pokéball to summon a little help for Conch. "Come on out, Sigilyph!"

Within seconds, my psychic pokémon appeared in the room ready for battle. But his third eye rolled to the side and noticed Salamorder, and then Sigilyph flew away from me and Conch to go battle on his own. Apparently fighting two-on-four held no allure for him. I screamed, "Are you kidding me?" Sigilyph's behavioral issues were becoming a problem for me when it came to battling.

"That pokémon is going to get itself killed," Neon Grunt 1 commented. "It's dangerous to battle with a pokémon that won't listen to its trainer."

"Say that again after that pokémon captures Salamorder," I replied. No, I didn't really believe my own words, but Sigilyph was my strongest pokémon by a long shot. If anyone in my army could fight Salamorder, it was him. Besides, Conch was strong and loved battle. He'd be okay by himself.

I pointed to the poliwhirl. It had to be the weakest given it was the one battling Salamorder. "Fish Kick!" Springing to action, Conch bounded forward to meet the poliwhirl face-to-face. With a graceful backflip, his whipped his leg in an upward strike and washed a powerful wave over his opponent.

Unfortunately, the poliwhirl appeared to get stronger instead of weaker.

"Water attacks won't work against pokémon with the Water Absorb ability."

"Ability?" I repeated. "Not technique?"

"Nope. It's not something they learn. Abilities are something pokémon are capable of from birth. Or evolution, sometimes. Here we use pokémon with the Water Absorb ability so they can last longer when battling Salamorder."

"That makes sense." I wondered what abilities my pokémon were capable of. But as helpful and stupid as these guys were, it wasn't the time to figure it out.

One of them finally figured that out, too. "You idiot! This isn't the time to be making friends! We've got to get rid of these guys before the boss finds out we screwed up!" He pointed at Conch and shouted, "Use Quick Attack!" The vaporeon braced itself and then charged across the field faster than I could even see. Its collision with Conch was devastating, especially when the poliwhirl blasted him with a follow-up Psychic blast.

It was too much. After fighting with those magbies and getting hit by Salamorder's flames, Conch was beaten. Sigilyph was still holding up well in his battle with the dragon, but he was no use to me against these two guys.

"It's three against one," Neon Grunt 2 reminded me. "Giving up yet?"

I wanted to finish this battle as quickly as possible. Reggie wouldn't be good against a gang of water-types, but I had a bigger pokémon anyway. And big pokémon tended to bring in more power. With a flick of my wrist, I recalled Conch and summoned Elly, my heavy dragmor. Her very appearance caused both Neon Grunts to flinch and their pokémon to tremble.

"Isn't that the same one Long uses?" Neon Grunt 1 asked.

"It is," his partner answered.

Really? Long uses a dragmor? Elly's bladed face and her armored body made her look intimidating, even though she was really just a big, blue, rock-munching pooch. It sounded right for a dragon master to have one.

"Use Metal Claw!" My dragon bounded forward, pounding the ground with step as she barreled into the three water pokémon. Each one was quick enough to react, but Elly had set her sights on the palpitoad. It had leaped out of the way, yet landing only put it underneath Elly's mighty slash. Maybe Elly was just that strong, or maybe powering up the quagsire had weakened the palpitoad, but its stamina was all gone after Elly's attack landed.

"Oh no!" one of the grunts shouted. "Vaporeon! Use Ice Beam!" That cat with the fish tail inhaled a deep breath and then exhaled a blue beam that struck Elly in her broad belly. She let out a low rumble of pain. Before the beam ended, the other grunt shouted, "Use Ice Beam, Poliwhirl!" Just as the vaporeon's attack lost energy and faded, a second beam emerged from the poliwhirl's belly, striking Elly in almost the same spot.

My poor dragmor cowered away from the beam, but she was too big to miss, even when she tried unsuccessfully to bury her head in the stone. She didn't appreciate battle the way Conch did. And the grunts had their pokémon alternate Ice Beams so Elly was never given a chance to rest. It was the same strategy those wild magbies had used. Just as I moved to recall her, the Ice Beams both faded. No, the users didn't run out of power. Salamorder's flames washed through the room like a tsunami of fire.

"Spitz!" Lauren screamed. Her powerful croconaw, with its strength against fire attacks, was completely overwhelmed by Salamorder. Blaze was still up and moving, but Spitz was down for the count.

I looked to the two grunts. "What if we finish this later and try to save all our butts from getting burned?"

"But mine can't," Neon Grunt 1 said. "I'm wearing flame-retardant pants."

If he were making a joke, we could've been best friends. But he was dead serious. These guys were obviously too stupid to tie their own shoes without help. Either they'd get the picture and help or they'd find out the difference between flameproof and flame-retardant.

"Elly! Come here!" My dragmor ran to me across the room and bumped into me so hard her pointed jowls left a cut on my stomach. She pressed her head into me like she wanted me to protect her. "I know, girl. But remember that training we did on our way up the mountain and all those exercises at the gym? Sometimes battling will hurt." She rumbled some more and didn't seem eager to continue. "Okay. I know, girl." I recalled her into her pokéball. Maybe her training session at the Dragon Gym had been too much for one day.

I heard a loud scream that sounded like "Yipe!" and found the water pokémon of each Neon Grunt knocked out. Salamorder had scrambled up the wall and along the ceiling, dropping down to the floor right next to the vaporeon and poliwhirl. The act also frightened the Neon Grunts so they both passed out on the spot. They were about as professional as a sock full of soup.

Obviously when facing a fire dragon, I'd prefer to have Conch well enough to fight, or else Elly could be more willing to battle. Sigilyph was still going, but he looked a lot weaker than when the battle started. And he had a history of ignoring my commands. Still, he was my strongest pokémon. Even if he didn't beat Gnomoder, he put up a very powerful fight, and this time he had help.

"Sigilyph! Use Mirror Move!" I watched Sigilyph's eyes, none of which looked my direction. He just unleashed a Psychic blast at Salamorder. It hit the dragon hard, but psychic pain always seemed to do nothing more than prompt another wave of legendary fire to fill the room.

I growled. "Listen to me, you stupid bird! You must remember how Spitz used Bubblebeam. If you Mirror that attack, you can do some real damaged. You're a lot stronger than Spitz!" Finally Sigilyph's third eye turned to look at me. It pierced straight through me. Maybe he heard my idea and agreed it was worth trying. But why not do it? Why would he refuse to use Bubblebeam?

"He can't remember that long ago," Lauren realized aloud. She clenched her fists and growled lightly. Her behavior was weird enough, but suddenly the air in the room began to grow heavy and it smelled slightly salty. Was it coincidence?

"Don't, Lauren!" Blade shouted.

She grumbled, "It's alright. He's one of Team Omega. He was going to figure it out eventually anyway."

The air seemed to grow drier with each passing second. The atmosphere of the room had the same feel like it was about to rain. It even smelled salty. The moisture grew heavier until the moment a wave of salty water erupted from Lauren's fingertips. It was like she was doing a spit-take from her hands! The water rushed over Salamorder and smothered his flames, reducing the heat's intensity instantly. It was amazing!

* * *

><p><em>Thanks to <strong>1shot1bownty<strong> for Blade and **Kurono-Angel** for Elliott._  
><em>I do need to give credit to <strong>MidsummerMoonlight99<strong> for predicting what Gus would find inside Mount Palladium. I wish I could have done something more unique, but this is basically an attempt to make a story version of a nonexistent game with eight legendary pokémon to introduce. Next week, we'll wrap up the Salamorder battle. How many pokémon will Gus lose in the battle?_

_I'd also like any feedback on the recap at the beginning. I didn't want it too long and wordy. Was it sufficient or did I forget something that would have been a helpful reminder?_

_**Trivia:** Have you noticed some of the little things about this story that connect it to the games? Gus mentions that he can see remarkably well inside a cave without even using Flash. He also found a random TM lying on the ground. In the last chapter, two guys blocked the trio from leaving town specifically so they would head into the mountain instead to move the story forward. These are fun little things I try to throw in once in a while._


	31. Foul Play

Foul Play

What I had just seen was too weird to be believed in a single moment. Lauren produced a massive Brine attack from her hands without even summoning a pokémon! Her attack smothered Salamorder's flames in an incredible display. But it was also fleeting. Salamorder's fire wasn't quenched—just momentarily weakened. All that salty water evaporated in almost an instant when Salamorder began thrashing about.

Instinct drove me to hide behind one of the torch sconces right next to where the grunts had passed out. Maybe it wasn't instinct as much as the sweat soaking my shorts. Either way, it was just in time. Fire encased Salamorder's entire body in a perfect sphere. No one tested it, but I was willing to bet flames that intense were impenetrable. Even a water gun would evaporate before it hit him. And that wasn't even the attack. The sphere's energy began to race into the ground, exploding in a wide circle around the legendary pokémon's body. I got to watch the flames race around both sides of the sconce and miss hitting me. It was pretty cool to see it for real. I thought that only ever happened in the movies. Blade grabbed Lauren, but they failed to hide sufficiently from the attack. Their clothes and bodies showed that much.

But Sigilyph was okay. He had rolled into a ball and drew in the energy around him to skyrocket his defensive capacity. And then he had a fresh move available for mirroring to take the offensive. Focusing on Mirror Move, Sigilyph's eyes gleamed brightly for a moment, and then his psychic energy took the form of water, filling the air around Salamorder with heavy moisture. Contained in a perfect sphere by Sigilyph's power, the fire dragon was surrounded by the same saltwater Brine that Lauren had conjured a minute earlier. It certainly felt like the fight was over.

Well? Wasn't it? That ball of water held in place for a lot longer than I expected. Sigilyph even dropped to the ground, I assume so he could maintain his focus on the attack without splitting his attention on flying. As long as I had a moment's reprieve, it seemed smart to check on my teammates.

Blade was lying on top of Lauren, shielding her from the big explosion Salamorder just had. His clothes had turned to ash, and it was miraculous that he merely suffered extensive burns on his backside. His skin must have been made of ivory. Both were breathing, though only Lauren was still conscious. As she pushed Blade off her back, I caught a glimpse of her scar—the one she got from her postnatal surgery. I might not have noticed it if Blade hadn't told me about it already. She had a tattoo of a waterfall down the length of her back, deftly concealing the scar tissue amid the plunge. It was a beautiful tattoo, turning a horrendous scar into something nice.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"I'll be fine," she grunted. She seemed to realize very suddenly that I was watching her and her clothes were not as whole as they once were. "Avert your eyes, you rotten pervert!"

"Pervert?" I repeated incredulously.

"Look away!" she screamed again.

"Okay, okay. Sheesh. You think now's the time to be bashful?"

"Are you still fifteen?"

"Yes."

"Then any time's the time to be bashful." She shifted her position to make sure I could see as little of her as possible. I don't know what she was so shy about. Blade wore less than she did at that moment. Maybe I didn't stare at his back as much as hers, but she was still overreacting.

Oops. Too relaxed too soon. Sigilyph ran out of steam. He passed out on the floor and the water sphere fell apart. Salamorder stood there in the floor, calmly panting as he caught his breath. That was the moment when the dragon pokémon looked me square in the eye. Those big, orange, vertical slits in his face pierced me, and the size of those nostrils made me wet my pants. I was frozen—transfixed by those eyes. Was he thinking of eating me? No, that didn't seem right. More likely, he just wanted the fighting to be over.

That had to be it. There was still water on the floor. It hadn't evaporated already. Salamorder had to go back. Being outside his pokéball seal put him and everything around him at risk. It was a miracle I hadn't been hurt more than I had. For Salamorder to get any rest, he had to go back in the pokéball. First I recalled Sigilyph, and then I tiptoed around the massive dragon, my eyes never straying from his teeth. Each one was the size of a chisel. One bite could aerate my whole front yard. His skin was smoother than I originally thought. He was more like an amphibian than a reptile.

He just sat there calmly, breathing heavily the whole time I walked around him. The pokéball rested on the raised stage. I found it unbroken. It wasn't even damaged. Those Neon Grunts were at least smart enough not to break the pokéball when they let Salamorder out. I glanced back at the dragon once more to ensure I was still in no danger. He hadn't even turned to watch me go. He didn't look nervous in the least. Salamorder didn't see me as a threat, at least not one he couldn't handle. I tossed the ball and watched the body of that large dragon disappear inside his pokéball. It was amazing something so small could contain so much power.

I picked up the orange pokéball and felt the power coursing inside. It felt calm. "I think it's over," I said out loud. Lauren seemed to relax a little, but she still wouldn't get up. Blade lay on top of her, still unconscious.

"Our winter clothes are still outside the door," Lauren spoke. "Bring them to me."

"Okay." Under my breath, I added, "_Please._" Probably a word I'd never hear from her.

Our clothes were still piled up exactly where we left them outside the puzzle door, still wet from all that sweating and warm from pressing them against the hot door. As soon as I touched my coat, I became aware of the drop in temperature since Salamorder vanished inside his pokéball. It was still warm, but I hadn't used a word that mild since entering the tunnel. Without the main source of heat spewing flames all over the place, the Salamander Temple was getting colder to match the mountain. I slipped on my snow pants and t-shirt before carrying the other clothes back to Lauren.

"Don't look!" she screamed at me.

Her scream caught me off guard and frightened me to the point of dropping everything. "Geez, lady! Do you want your clothes or not?"

"Yes!"

I picked up her and Blade's clothes and moved to hand them over.

"Stop looking, you pervert!"

"There's that word again. What is with you?"

"You're leering at me! It's lewd!"

"It's how I know where to take your clothes," I pointed out calmly. "Would you rather I avert my eyes and just start feeling my way around?"

"Just throw them over here and don't look!"

I tossed the clothes in her direction and turned my back without getting even getting close enough to tell what colors her eyes were. "Fine, you freak." I waited in silence for a few moments while Lauren dressed. After a battle that intense, the silence offered welcome relief. My adrenaline finally faded and I was able to order my thoughts. I had so many questions flowing through my mind.

"There," she said, her voice finally calm. "I'm decent now."

I spun around and peered at her curiously. Her clothes covered her body thoroughly, so that's not what I was studying. She didn't like how I looked at her either way.

"What?"

"Are you a pokémon?"

She scoffed. "Don't be stupid." She ignored me and reached into her pockets to find some first aid materials for Blade. She applied some ointments to his skin and found some bandages for some cuts he received.

"You shot water from your hands," I pointed out.

"I didn't shoot water," she protested loudly. She produced some smelling salts to run under Blade's nose. "I only compressed the moisture in the air."

"Only?"

"It's something some people can do," she explained. "The air is filled with energy waves generated by all life. A select few people are able to sense or even use that energy. Using my own energy as a catalyst, I drew out the moisture in the air and turned it into water, making it look like I used a water attack."

"Um… How's that different?"

"Never mind!" Blade began to stir. Lauren gave him a water bottle and put his coat over his shoulders. "You're okay," she told him. "Just a few burns. Nothing you can't recover from."

I figured out, "That's because he's a pokémon, too, right? Whatever it is you said that let you turn the air into water, he can probably do the same thing with fire. Or he can resist fire or something. That's why he survived that explosion with so little to show for it."

"He's a normal guy with thick skin," she insisted. She told Blade, "Lie down. If you get up too quickly, you'll get light-headed."

"I'm okay." Blade pushed Lauren aside and sat up. He held the position for two seconds when he dropped back to the floor. "I'm just gonna lie still for a minute. If I get up too quickly, I'll get light-headed."

Lauren just nodded and replied dryly, "Yeah, imagine that."

"Dude," I uttered. "Do you drink flame retardant or something?"

He groaned. "Are you familiar with Aura?"

"Blade!" Lauren protested. "I just told him you have thick skin."

"That's a lie. I bruise like a peach. My aura tends to run hot like fire. In essence, I can heat up my surroundings the same way my body heats itself in the cold. I can't really produce fire or absorb it, but my body resists fire the same as if Blaze got hit by a fire attack."

I had stars in my eyes. "That is awesome. Can everyone in Team Omega do stuff like that?"

"Not even close," Blade replied with a laugh.

"Just us," Lauren added. "Only a few people know about it, though, so don't say anything to anyone. People don't need to know there are freaks like us out there. They can't handle knowing the truth."

That was unexpected. "Really? I thought aura guardians were just a myth. It seems like people would pay a lot of money to see people who can use abilities like that. You think they can't handle it?"

Blade supported her by saying, "They panic easily, especially when they don't understand how someone else can do something they can't. We're counting on you not to be one of those people."

I shrugged. "At least now you know when I stare, it's not because of Lauren's hips."

"Jerk!" she screamed. She swung at me, and she might've hit me if her scream hadn't startled me out of the way. I scrambled away from her toward the two Neon Grunts while my partners figured out how to get Blade into his snow clothes without sitting up.

Neither of the grunts had moved since passing out. I poked one of them with the tip of my shoe. "Are you guys dead?"

They kept their faces buried in the floor. "Shh! We're playing dead until that fire dragon is done rampaging. It's the only way we'll get out alive." Those guys were a few beldums short of a metagross if they didn't realize Salamorder was gone. There was no way they were smart enough to set this deal up. But instead of enlightening them about their current situation, I let them believe Salamorder was still out and about.

"Good plan. One question though: Who's in charge here?"

"The Boss should be here soon. She'll fix everything."

"'She.' Thanks." I figured it was Elliott, but it was good to hear confirmation. "You guys stay here and hide from Salamorder. We're going to go and wait outside the puzzle door so we don't get locked in by accident." Somehow my sarcasm was lost on them. Instead of catching the hint and following me, they just stayed there, pretending to be motionless. Morons.

Blade was on his feet and dressed, so the three of us got outside the room and waited a short way into the tunnel outside the temple. Lauren was adamant that we not talk anymore about the fact that she and Blade could manipulate their auras. Instead I thought about Elliott's meteoric rise to power in this city. Or reverse-meteoric. That makes more sense, right? She moved up instead of crashing. Anyway, when the volcano died, people left the area. Something brought her to the mountains, she chanced upon the Salamander Temple, and figured she could use the heat generated by Salamorder's fire to control the climate of the mountaintop. What better way to revitalize a city than to create somewhere people could ski and lounge by the beach in the same trip? She probably made a fortune with it.

"You are one crafty little woman," I thought I'd say to her. The only thing left wanting was her help. Someone a little smarter might be a better choice. Of course, people too stupid to ask questions are a lot less capable of betrayal. Maybe that was her plan from the start. Either way, her grunts seemed to think she'd be by anytime to check on the situation. Watching the hot springs become tepid might even bring her down early.

Waiting around was boring. Lauren downed three bottles of water and Blade needed his burn ointment reapplied twice. Neither one wanted to play "I Spy" with me. We waited right there in silence, hidden just slightly out of sight but with good visibility of the temple's entrance until the moment Elliott arrived. She wore a white, camouflage snowsuit and black-tinted goggles, both of which probably helped her hide her whereabouts as she made her way down the mountainside. She was shocked to see the puzzle door open, but even more shocked when she looked inside and Salamorder was gone.

"Looking for this?" It was gratifying to see her jump when I showed up behind her.

"Gus?" The shock quickly faded from her face and was replaced with annoyance. "I knew that whole 'stupid' thing you were doing was just an act. I should have never taken my eyes off you."

"I'm flattered," I joked, "but—"

Lauren interrupted me. "You're under arrest, you pokémon thief."

Elliott regarded her with the exact expression anyone would give a random person pretending to have more authority than she actually did. "I'm sorry? Can I see your badge, Marshal?"

"I'm not a marshal," Lauren admitted, "but I'm turning you over to them for fraud, abuse of pokémon, and snooping in ancient ruins."

"Settle down there, Wet Lips," I said. Lauren reacted with offense, but I didn't care because she asked for it, going off all half-cocked like that. "The only one of those that's actually a crime is fraud, and I really doubt you can make a charge like that stick in this case."

"What are you talking about?" Elliott groaned.

I clarified, "She's talking about abusing Salamorder in order to make Argentum City hot on one side. You couldn't actually control the legendary pokémon, so you just let him out every day and attacked him constantly. He used fire attacks to defend himself, heating up this side of the mountain and making your springs plenty hot. There's even a pack of magbies in these mountains drawn in by all that heat. The only thing I can't figure out is whether or not you really did set up any pipes to direct the heat."

Elliott chuckled. "No. No pipes. Salamorder's legendary heat was plentiful even through the mountaintop."

Lauren said sternly, "Well, now you're coming with us to meet the Marshals." The view must have been nice up there from atop her high horse.

But Elliott wasn't threatened. She simply cracked a grin. "Do you think you can take me without a fight?" I didn't even see her drop a pokéball when suddenly a brown-skinned humanoid appeared by her side. The top of its head was red, almost like it was wearing a hat. It clearly wasn't a human because its face was sheer and it didn't have a mouth, but its body was shaped like a human's. Pokédex says…

_015-Jowrie_

_Red Giant Pokémon_

_[Fighting] [Ground]_

_Average Height: 5'3"_

_Average Weight: 268.4 lb._

_Although called giant, these pokémon are often the same size as humans. Jowrie are known for their hunting prowess. It is said they must consume blood every day or else they will die._

"A fighting type," I realized. I immediately figured the blood thing was probably more like local legends than biological fact, but I couldn't think of a worse type match for the pokémon I had available. Reggie was a fire-type that could be ravaged by ground attacks, Siggy and Elly were both weak to fighting attacks, and neither Sigilyph nor Conch was in any condition to fight.

"What's it going to be?" Elliott asked. "Aren't you going to drag me to the Marshals?"

"Maybe. Maybe not," I replied vaguely. "But I'll certainly battle you. Let's go, Siggy!" My foamy little dwarf friend appeared by my side, ready to fight.

Elliott looked curious. "What is that thing? I don't recognize it."

"Really? You don't know the pokémon I'm using?"

"I was born in Nimbasa City in the Unova region. I only came here a few years ago. Obviously I know some pokémon because I evolved my sativish into a jowrie, but I don't know all of the pokémon exclusive to this region."

I smiled. Lucky me she didn't know what a golfoam was. Maybe it would give me a little bit of an edge in battle if she didn't know to focus on fighting-type attacks. Or maybe I was setting myself up for massive disappointment if I weren't careful about my overconfidence. I was riding a confidence high with Salamorder's pokéball in my pocket. I probably couldn't control him, but Brooke couldn't exactly control Gnomoder during our fight, either. If I could come to some understanding with him, his awesome power might help me whenever I got overwhelmed. But I had to remember the chances of that were probably slim.

"Let's stay smart here, Siggy. Don't get overconfident."

"Don't worry," Elliott said. "I won't give you time to get cocky. Use Arm Thrust!" Immediately, her pokémon leaped at Siggy and unleashed a flurry of open-palmed thrusts that battered Siggy several staggering steps in retreat. "Don't let up. Use Force Palm!" A much more powerful thrust hit Siggy and sent a shockwave past him. Elliott called for attack after attack, hoping to knock Siggy out before he even got the chance to fight back. It was bad luck for me that she happened to lead off with fighting-type attacks. His slick, foam-covered body helped him absorb some of the damage, and his short stature is what prevented him from falling over.

"Siggy, push him back with a Foamy Punch!"

"Fat chance," Elliott laughed and with good reason. Her jowrie was faster than Siggy, and its powerful, repeated strikes kept him from winding up for his home-run punch. The way things went, I couldn't see how Siggy could jump in. Unless…

"Use Me First!" Siggy's most impressive strength, other than his physical power, was his perceptiveness and ability to copy the opponent's moves. With the move Me First, he used both of those strengths simultaneously. Siggy perceived the oncoming attack before the jowrie completed it and reacted quickly to mimic the same move barely a second sooner. His smaller size let him sneak under the attack and plant a foamy palm thrust into the jowrie's knee cap and belly. The jowrie staggered to one knee as a result.

"That's the way, Sig. Now use Foamy Punch!" The nice thing about the jowrie taking a knee was that its face was right in front of Siggy when he wound up and planted his powerful, oversized fist into his opponent. The force of the attack lifted the jowrie off the ground and carried it a short way backward before it slammed onto its back.

Elliott growled, "Not yet. Use Magnitude." Her pokémon wasn't done yet. But instead of leaping in for close combat, it stayed back and slammed its fists on the ground. The floor of the tunnel cracked right under Siggy's feet and knocked him down, but he never completely lost his footing. "Let's end this. Close Combat!" The jowrie braced itself like a track runner and ran into battle.

"Uh oh!" Clearly the jowrie had more stamina left than Siggy after all those attacks. And even the Foamy Punch didn't hit hard enough to end this battle right away. In a panic, I thought about my other pokémon and shouted, "Assist!" Just when the jowrie leaned in with a downward punch, Siggy suddenly back-flipped, whipping a powerful splash of water into the jowrie's face. If I thought I knew any better, I'd say it looked like a Fish Kick.

But that was just the kind of random luck Siggy needed. Assist let him mimic Conch's signature attack, and just when he needed it, too. The jowrie reeled in pain from the water attack, giving Siggy a chance for one more "Double Foamy Punch!" Or is that _two_ more? Siggy pulled back one arm and thrust it forward in the same, log-sized strike as before, and then he landed a second, identical strike with his other arm. The first strike to the belly bent the jowrie over at the waist, and the second strike to the face laid the giant flat.

Elliott growled roughly as she recalled her jowrie. She wasn't at all happy about losing that battle. She regarded the jowrie's pokéball reverently for a moment, and then she produced another. "Enough toying around. Slash, go show them what a championship battle is like." The tone in her words struck me as fearsome. There was truth to her words, or at least she believed them honestly.

The next pokéball revealed a scrafty, basically a pokémon that resembled a humanoid lizard in its teenage years when it just can't figure out how to find jeans that fit. Except it was shedding skin in this case, but the skin still looked like baggy pants and a hoodie. And that scrafty's eyes had a look about them. That was a pokémon that had seen plenty of battles—quite possibly my toughest challenge yet outside of a gym. I had to recall Siggy to give him some rest.

"My strongest pokémon wore himself out fighting Salamorder," I commented, "so I guess you'll have to battle my first pokémon instead. Come out, Reggie." A moment later, my fiery feline joined us in the cave, raising the temperature only slightly. Reggie looked good and healthy. He'd put up a powerful fight. But I had serious doubts that he could win.

I asked, "What's the deal with that scrafty?"

"Who? Slash?" Elliott asked playfully. "Don't worry about him. Remember when I said I was from Unova? Slash was with me when I defeated their eight gym leaders three years ago and competed in their championship series."

She was a championship candidate in Unova?

Blade whispered to me, "Be careful. That scrafty will be tough."

"Thanks for the advice," I replied dryly.

Reggie and Slash stared one another down for a moment. My conflacat bared his sharp teeth, and the scrafty narrowed his googly eyes. Reggie's claws extended and retracted, and Slash flexed his thin, toned arms.

"Head Smash!"

"Flame Charge!"

Her pokémon charged while mine clocked himself in flames. Slash leaped into the air, diving toward Reggie like a missile. Surrounded by flame, Reggie slipped under the attack and flipped back around, tackling Slash from behind. Before either pokémon received another command, the sound of metal jangling distracted both me and Elliott. Our pokémon also paused their battle.

"Pardon me for interrupting what seems like a very intense moment," spoke the man with the white cowboy hat and spurs on his boots. "Is this supposed to be a private party?"

"Marshal Ray!" It was hard not to recognize his face the instant I saw it, even though he started to grow heavy stubble from cheek to cheek. He must have opted to keep the extra fur instead of shaving when walking through the cold snow. "What are you doing here?"

"Call it a hunch," he said. "I was tailing Miss Charlotte there and ended up here. I decided not to interrupt the battle outright until I made a few calls and learned this place might be the legendary Salamander Temple." He turned his gaze to Elliott, and then let it drift back to me and my two cohorts. "I'm guessing that means one of you knows where Salamorder is."

I was too confounded to speak at first, but I did produce the orange pokéball from my side so he could see it.

"Alright then. As a deputy of the Marshals Service, I am placing Mayor Charlotte Ellie under arrest for defrauding the public and abuse of legendary pokémon." Elliott's body was tense, like maybe she planned to fight back. "Please don't make me use force," Ray requested. He pulled back the side of his coat to show the tranquilizer gun he carried in a holster on his hip. "I'm getting too old for a physical altercation and my pokémon haven't seen a real battle in quite some time."

Elliott was silent for an eternity. But finally she relaxed and dropped her arms to her side. "Alright, Marshal. You win. I'll go quietly if you promise not to use the handcuffs. I wouldn't want my township to see me like that. You understand."

"I do. You have a deal. Make it easy for me and we'll skip the formalities."

She turned away from me and walked past Ray, toward the entrance of the tunnel. She merely uttered, "Quick Attack."

That scrafty lunged the second Ray turned his back. It moved so quickly it might as well have been invisible. Elliott was attempting an escape by having her pokémon attack the marshal directly! And using an attack that took less than two seconds to complete!

In one swift motion, Marshal Ray turned to face the scrafty, lifted the barrel of the tranquilizer gun just out of the holster, and fired four darts straight into Slash's abdomen. Within two seconds, Slash practically teleported down the tunnel and Ray put him down. And then he leveled the gun at Elliott's back so he could put her down, too, if he had to.

"Did you guys see that, too?"

Blade and Lauren were just about as dumbfounded as I was. "He's a Marshal. They're good at what they do."

Ray produced handcuffs from his back pocket. "Turn around, Madam Mayor."

Her face showed a smile of defeat. "Forfeited my chance to keep my dignity, didn't I?"

"A little bit." He put the cuffs on her and dragged her over to me next. Keeping one hand on the cuffs, he held out his other hand to me. "You have the salamander, right? I'm gonna need that for evidence."

For some reason, I was slow to respond. I didn't go to Argentum City with the intention of locating a legendary pokémon, but once I had it in my hands I didn't want to let it go. For any serious pokémon trainer, owning a legendary pokémon was the ultimate prize! I'd seen the strength and stamina Salamorder had to offer firsthand. A team supplemented by his power would be unstoppable! How could I give that up when I just decided I was going to become the pokémon champ?

He noticed my hesitation. "What safer place is there than in the hands of the Elite Four?"

I laughed and quickly handed over the pokéball. "Don't worry. You take Salamorder. I don't need him." Reggie rubbed his face into my hip. "These guys will make me the champ. Right, Reg?" My conflacat pressed his face into my palm and purred. "Yeah. That's what I thought."

* * *

><p><em>Thanks go to <strong>Kurono-Angel<strong> for offering Elliott to the story. I know she hasn't lived up exactly to the specifications you gave me, but she's close when it comes to battling and a necessary piece of the story progression. I've enjoyed her character._  
><em>Next time, Gus will see a city diminishing in popularity with its hot springs cooling off. It's finally time for him to do what he came to do: Challenge Argentum's gym leader!<em>

_**Trivia:** **MidsummerMoonlight99** was correct when he predicted Salamorder comes from salamander + order. I won't explain the "order" part this early in the story, but I will expand on the "salamander." The big reason Final Fantasy et al. use Salamander as a fire summoning is that mythology describes them as the elementals of fire, the same way gnomes are elementals of earth and ondines are the elementals of water. Notice any patterns you missed earlier in the story?_


	32. Dragon Rage

Dragon Rage

"Foamy Punch!" One well-placed punch from Siggy into the gible's jaw sent that pudgy little shark-dragon flying. Siggy was able to defeat both of Melvin's pokémon by himself. That gave the rest of my team a break so they'd be better rested when confronting Long's more powerful dragons.

"Pretty good, Gus," Melvin told me. He was the trainer at the Argentum Dragon Gym who was selected to screen the challengers that day. I'd sparred with him a few times during the week I spent training in the gym. He was a good guy, if a little green around the dragon gills. He was the first trainer I'd met so far who actually made me feel like a seasoned veteran. "You've learned more in a week than I have in two months. I guess there really is something to that strategy you pulled. We really thought you were just goofing off all day yesterday."

"I was," I assured him. "Sometimes a day of goofing off is good for your pokémon."

"Seriously, though. When we saw you spending the day having snowball fights and riding sleds and bathing in the cold springs, some of the other guys started a pool. A lot of them bet you wouldn't even get to the arena because your pokémon would be too lazy."

I smiled and patted Siggy on his sudsy head. "Well, won't they be surprised when I take away a Silver Badge, then." Of course, Melvin wasn't done with me yet. His way of screening the unworthy trainers was not only through battle, but also through a riddle that would tell me which of the three arenas Long chose for the challenge. "What's the riddle?"

"Wh—"

"Actually, don't bother."

That caught him off guard. "What?"

"I'm going to the Sky Arena. Will you set the bridge, please?"

Melvin was baffled. "Are you sure? What if you're wrong?"

"If, by some extraordinary circumstances, Long has managed to outwit me and is not waiting for me in the arena at the very top of the mountain, then I'll just suffer through a battle with a second trainer and pay attention to the riddle then."

"You're really sure he's up there?"

I nodded. "Of course I am. I've been training here for a week and he's been watching me get better. I know what he's planning, and he's going to need the biggest arena available in order to do it."

He nodded acceptingly and opened the bridge to the highest arena stage. "Alright, Gus. If you think you're really ready, go ahead and give it your all."

"After what I've been through this week, of course I'm ready."

* * *

><p>Watching Marshal Ray walk with Elliott and her two cronies in the neon outfits was like watching a movie. I never expected to come across such an event during my journey. It was nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time. I actually uncovered a plot to abuse a legendary pokémon for the sake of defrauding the public and making money! Maybe my picture would be on the news, unless the Marshals took credit for everything, which wouldn't surprise me either. Part of me felt bad about getting Elliott arrested, but the other part was glad Salamorder was finally safe again.<p>

"Did anyone have plans to pick up her scrafty?" I wondered. Poor Slash was still on the floor of the tunnel with four tranquilizer darts sticking out of his skin. The lesson learned there was not to mess with the Marshal Service.

"Unlikely," Blade suggested. "All Ray cares about is Salamorder and Elliott. Her pokémon are unimportant."

Lauren suggested, "Why not catch it for yourself? It could be a little while before it even has the opportunity to see its real trainer again. Or just let it go. I don't want it, and Blade won't use any pokémon except Blaze."

That gave me a _real_ reason to feel like a sleaze. What would make the worse situation: leaving Slash there or capturing him like he was fair game? I finally decided that a pokémon like that shouldn't be abandoned. Maybe he'd get the chance to see his trainer again one day. And if not, at least I would treat him well, plus he'd make a strong addition to my team. I found in my satchel a Great Ball, one of the improved types of pokéball I purchased from the Pokémart in the city. It was supposed to be more effective than a generic pokéball at capturing pokémon. Slash's years of experience suggested a more powerful pokéball would be necessary. Fortunately, he was asleep and couldn't well resist the draw of the Great Ball.

Just like that, I had a sixth pokémon.

"What's next?" Blade asked.

"Standard protocol," Lauren replied. "We discovered the Salamander Temple, so we contact the archaeology team at the Omega Headquarters and guard the temple until they get here. We have to do what we can to preserve the technology hidden within this facility."

"Sounds like we'll be here for a few days," I noted.

Blade nodded. "It could take them up to a week to climb the mountain. It took us three days, but they'll have a lot more equipment to lug up here. Had we found the temple lower down the mountain, they could use some flyers to bring the equipment. It's really difficult to get flying pokémon capable of carrying that much weight this high into the snowy air."

"Makes sense," I thought aloud. I scratched Reggie behind the ears and felt the warmth of his fur. Things were going to get very cold now that Salamorder was no longer heating the mountaintop. The sweat drying along my hairline was probably the last I'd feel for a while. "I'm pretty exhausted after all that. I guess I'm heading to the pokémon center, getting some supper, and hopping in bed, if any of those places don't kick me out for getting their mayor arrested."

"I'm sure there's no problem," Blade responded. "Don't forget that Team Omega is footing your bills so that you'll challenge the gym. You should get in some training time while we're here."

"That's exactly why I need to sleep. I just got an idea for how to make my pokémon stronger."

* * *

><p>The Sky Arena, as it was called by the trainers in the Argentum Dragon Gym, was an open arena with a lot of high walls made of eroded stone. It was like being inside a supersized jungle gym, with walls that had holes of varying sizes allowing foot space outside the main arena. That was where some battles went whenever trainers realized a head-on assault against Long's dragons wouldn't result in a victory. A sort of catwalk was chiseled along the high walls for the trainers to get a good view of the battles without being in the way. The city's gym leader waited for me in the center of the main arena.<p>

"You were quick to get here," Long greeted me. "I suspected a riddle would do little to slow you down. Your mind has always been a little quicker than average."

"If it makes you average people feel any better, I didn't even listen to the riddle. I just assumed you'd be up here because it's the only arena where you battle with your wyrmnir."

Long tilted his head. "You were certain I'd battle with Keeper?"

I just nodded. Who could resist the opportunity to show off a battle of his wyrmnir versus my dragmor? No one could, that's who. He watched me train Elly all week and offered me a few tips here and there. That's how I knew beyond a reasonable doubt who my opponent would be. The only question was which of his other dragons he would throw at me. Odds pointed toward flyers.

Popping a pokéball in his hand, Long told me, "Let's get started." A long, serpentine dragon appeared from the pokéball and took to the air. Its blue scales resonated perfectly with the cloudless sky we experienced that morning, accenting its beautiful and regal appearance. But those teeth and the infamous temper tantrums of a gyarados gave me plenty of reason to be wary. Long wanted the first battle to set the tone for the whole match. Only one of my pokémon was able to battle in the air.

"Let's go, Sigilyph." With a flash of the pokéball, my psychic flyer arrived at my side. "You see that gyarados? Care to find out which of you is stronger?" Through training, I decided that if Sigilyph couldn't be bothered to follow my commands, I couldn't be bothered to give any. But Sigilyph was strong, and he had a bit of a proud streak. Whenever he sparred with opponents that might possibly be stronger, he put forth much greater effort and beat them much harder. "When in doubt, smart money is always on the pokémon with the bigger teeth."

Long spoke to his gyarados, "No need for us to hold back even a little. Begin with Dragon Rage." The gyarados exhaled a heaping cloud of gas, almost flame-like in composition but without smoke or heat.

In a quick defensive maneuver, Sigilyph began to spin and flap his wings in order to generate a whirlwind, drawing the gas into the vortex without ever touching the target. But whether Sigilyph saw it coming or not, the gas was just a distraction to prevent him from noticing the shockwave that struck him even through the whirlwind. Long added, "Quickly! Ice Fang!"

Taking advantage of Sigilyph's moment of recovery? That wouldn't work. I gave all my pokémon a full day to rest before challenging Long and the gym. Sigilyph took one hit, but that was already an impressive feat for his opponent. All my pokémon were raring to go.

* * *

><p>Reggie still hated water, but he could handle it long enough to make the pool piping hot before I climbed in. It was the first time the spring had been hot since the marshal took Salamorder. Instantly I felt my muscles relax as the hot water relieved all the tension I'd built through the week. Conch and Siggy enjoyed it, too, I'm pretty sure. Conch only ever stayed in the water for a few minutes at a time because he was afraid he might regress and lose his ability to walk on land, but the fact that he kept jumping back in suggested he liked the way the hot water felt. Siggy hopped in and immediately turned into a water vent: He looked invisible except as a floating column of bubbles.<p>

I invited Sigilyph in, but he opted just to float gentle, hypnotic circles around the spring. I wasn't sure how relaxing it was for him to expend the energy to float, but watching him sure helped me relax even more. Elly got in the water and rested her head on the side of the pool while she slept. She earned her rest that week, but man, was she noisy! Ever hear a dragmor snore? It sounded like a patrat caught in a fan belt. After Reggie shook the water off his fur and used his internal fire to dry himself, he wandered over to the side of the locker room and settled. He must have spent ten minutes cleaning himself—read as "covering himself in cat spit"—but then he put his head down and placed his paws over his ears to block out the sound.

Reggie's fire was a whole lot stronger than it had been when I first got him. I was in the spring for twenty minutes before the water cooled noticeably. I was starting to consider getting out when Alm came by. He was that biologist I met a few days earlier. I had seen him at the springs each day continuing to collect samples even after the pool started to cool off.

"Hi, Gus," he said. Considering he was dressed in winter gear and I wore a swimsuit, he asked me, "Isn't it a little cold for a swim?"

"Not right now, it isn't. Reggie hopped in a little bit ago and heated it up nicely for us. We just needed a good way to relax." Motioning around the spring, I clarified who needed to relax: "Me, Fish Face, Bubbles, and the lawn mower with the busted muffler over there." That last one was Elly. "Later, we're going to get massages for everyone. Today is all about relaxation."

"That's good. A day of rest is useful every so often. The common recommendation is to give your muscles twenty-four to forty-eight hours off between workouts."

"Why is that?"

"Well, in essence, every time you stress your muscles, you break down the tissue. When you give yourself time to rest, your body rebuilds the damaged tissue—usually a little bit bigger in anticipation of your breaking it down again."

I smiled. "That's why we're here. Usually, I like to take lots of rest and only work out once or twice a month. That's why I never pull a muscle."

He nodded. "That works, too, although I've seen you running around the city an awful lot this week. It seems to contradict what you just said about resting mostly." Alm squatted and started digging through his briefcase while he talked. "I admire your dedication, though. You were working out alongside your pokémon, right?"

"Rule #2," I enlightened him. "Never expect your pokémon to do anything you wouldn't do. If I want them to work their butts off, I'll do the same thing right by their sides."

Alm seemed impressed. "That's a good mindset for a trainer."

"Thanks. Have you seen it, by the way?"

"Seen what?"

"My butt. I think I lost it somewhere between scaling down the side of the mountain and running up the ski slope. I just know wherever I left it, it left a pile of soreness behind with no forwarding address." I never could get Alm to laugh. He was probably still confused by that joke, or I would have thought so if he weren't plunging another couple of droppers into the spring water, which got Conch's attention. "What are you doing?"

"Essentially the same thing I was doing when we first met," he answered. "Since the springs stopped being so hot, the content of microscopic organisms has changed drastically. The entire ecology has changed. I'm not sure that even a single organism has remained when the environment shifted so dramatically. You know what I'm saying?"

"It's pretty safe to say I don't."

He laughed at that. "Sorry. What I'm saying is something big just happened here. Not only did the hot spring lower in temperature, but the ecology is going to change. A lot of pokémon and plants and other organisms that were once able to live in this environment may soon die off."

Just as the Elder told me back in Natrium, Alm was now letting me know that removing Salamorder from the Salamander Temple is shifting the ecology of the region. Changing ecology in nature always meant big changes for the people in the area, too. Changes in finding food, changes in the weather… Thanks to my interference, life could suddenly become very difficult. The population dwindled the second those springs began to cool.

"How is that going to affect the people here? I mean, the ones that are still here."

"Argentum was already pretty unnatural to begin with. Now things are reverting to a more natural state. Honestly, I think that although there will be some difficulty in the beginning, things will be easier to maintain this way."

I felt my spirits lift a little. "Really?"

"Oh, yeah. Don't underestimate it: Things will be weird for a while, but the colder environment will make life easier in the long run."

* * *

><p>Sigilyph was not an agile pokémon in the air. His small size would suggest movement was easier, but the fact that he moved mostly through telekinesis and not actual flight meant focus was necessary. After being struck by the Dragon Rage shockwave, Sigilyph struggled to attain that focus while figuring out how to avoid that gyarados's enormous, icy fangs.<p>

Nonchalantly, I suggested in a normal voice, "I'd use Gravity." Sigilyph didn't often listen to me, so following my suggestion was his choice. Instead of choosing to drop the gyarados straight to the ground like I would have, Sigilyph dropped himself straight down a few feet, well out of the trajectory taken by his opponent. As the serpentine dragon glided past his head, Sigilyph released a Psychic blast overhead. The attack struck the gyarados's belly, inflicting a painful strike. Sigilyph rose overtop the stunned dragon and slammed his whole body into it. At that moment, he may have combined a Gravity attack in order to Smack Down the gyarados. It hit the ground hard, shaking the rocky walls. To ensure the fight was done, Sigilyph unleashed another Psychic blast straight down of his opponent.

The ground exploded with the impact, but the gyarados wasn't hurt by it. Long had already recalled his pokémon once he knew Sigilyph had won. "Good work," he told the pokéball as he returned it to his side.

"I'm impressed to see you with a pokémon that needs no commands during battle," Long told me. "I've seen you drilling your pokémon on attacks all week, yet that sigilyph works at his own pace."

"That's what makes him my most powerful," I confessed. Ironic, then, that I recalled him immediately afterward. "Of course, even I realize that a psychic pokémon is only so useful against an army of dragons. Especially steel ones."

Long merely grinned without reply as he summoned his next fighter. That one was a pokémon I'd seen before: a steelgoyle. It looked like a gargoyle sculpted from steel, with wings like scythes and hollow eyes that frightened me every time I looked into them. I'd fought a steelgoyle once before when it was younger and freshly evolved. Long's pokémon was much bigger and looked even heavier.

_035-Steelgoyle_

_Blaze Pokémon_

_[Fire] [Steel]_

_Average Height: 3'10"_

_Average Weight: 312.4 lb._

_This pokémon is capable of holding perfectly still in order to evade predators and lull its prey into a false sense of security._

Like I thought, Long was using a steel-type pokémon. And even though steelgoyle wasn't considered a dragon-type pokémon, it had a lot of dragon-like characteristics in its biology. I thought about that arbok Long used to fight Nelson—only dragon-like, but as strong as any dragon.

"Here goes, Reggie." I summoned my large conflacat to the field and patted his face. "You remember the last steelgoyle we faced?" With one look, Reggie put on that face that indicated he was ready for play time. "Good. Show him what you learned this week!"

"Good luck," Long told us. To his steelgoyle, he said, "Use Iron Defense."

"Defense?" I questioned. That wouldn't win the fight. I was going to focus on Reggie's speed instead. "Use Flame Wheel!" Reggie's fur burst into flame as he charged at the stationary opponent. He narrowed a gap of twenty meters in only two seconds, and the collision at that speed knocked the steelgoyle off its feet. Unfortunately, the opponent's steel body seemed to inflict some recoil damage right back at Reggie.

And the steelgoyle, finally moving, stood back up with ease.

"I forgot about its fire-type," I realized. Attacking with fire attacks would be reasonably effective and might be the best bet for weakening the steelgoyle's exterior, but its internal fire would provide it plenty of protection. Another strategy was in order.

"Use Iron Defense again," Long spoke, and the steelgoyle's body shimmered a second time.

I scratched my chin. Why would he focus solely on defense? Maybe he was using the same strategy I was.

* * *

><p>"It's like Charge of the Light Brigade in here," I said. Heavy bubbles rained at me from the left while fireballs volleyed from the right. Each step was vital for me to avoid being drenched or burned. "Keep it quick, Elly. Light on your toes!" My massive dragmor was a lot more graceful than I would have expected during this exercise. Each step she took was the same as if she tiptoed or danced. All that sinewy muscle throughout her body, and especially in her feet, made her already stronger than I would ever be. Her size made her look clumsy, but a dragmor really had a lot of control over its body.<p>

But her giant body also meant she got hit often by the barrage coming at us from all sides. When we first started, she kept trying to hide behind me so she wouldn't get hit. And then she realized how much I sucked at the exercise and that she was much better off on her own. I lost track of time after fifteen minutes, but as tired or as bruised as I got, I just kept going for as long as I could. Coincidentally, I probably avoided a whole lot more attacks when I got dizzier.

"Don't you guys need a break yet?" asked Melvin. He was the trainer I coopted into helping me train. "You've been at it for forty-five minutes already."

That perked me up. "Really?" The first time we tried that training regimen, everyone got too tired to go on before even five minutes passed. By everyone, I mean Elly, me, Conch and Siggy spewing the bubbles, Reggie launching fireballs, and Melvin's two gibles using shockwaves from Dragon Rage to knock around the bubbles and fireballs randomly and make it harder for me and Elly to know which way the attacks would come from. But in just four days, we went from five minutes to forty-five minutes.

"Yeah. Isn't it break time?"

"Not yet," I gasped. A more comprehensive response wasn't a possibility at that moment. The cramps in my abdomen were already pretty killer, and they intensified from the psychological effect commonly referred to as "knowing I've been moving for a really long time." As soon as I learned how long it had been, my body began to lock up and pretend that nothing had changed when only moments earlier it was capable of going for at least another five minutes.

Instead, my body decided to have a total collapse and leave me on the ground almost defenseless while a barrage of bubbles and fireballs swarmed me and a five-hundred-pound dragon danced over me. I was pushed around by several attacks on each side when suddenly the attacks stopped altogether and the arena felt so much warmer than it had before. Elly had planted herself right in front of me and become my wall, stopping all the leftover bubbles and fireballs from reaching me.

I patted her on the shoulder. "Good poochy."

Melvin called to make sure I was okay, but before I could reply, Reggie came bounding to me and began licking me and pushing his cold nose in my face. How weird that his nose could be so cold when touching his fur was like hugging fire.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll live," I assured Mel. "After a nap and a bottle of aspirin."

He laughed. "I saw you go down after that earthquake hit and I worried you might be seriously hurt this time."

"Earthquake? I didn't notice an earthquake."

"Really? I just assumed that's why you fell. It shook me and the pokémon up a bit, too."

I was really confused. "If the volcano is extinct and Salamorder isn't down there anymore to create havoc, what caused the earthquake?"

"It was probably Long training his wyrmnir. That pokémon weighs about six thousand pounds." Don't mock me, but I forgot for a moment that some pokémon can shake the very foundation of the planet. A wyrmnir is one of them. "You're planning to challenge Long soon, right? I'll bet he uses it against you."

And why wouldn't he? A wyrmnir is an evolved form of dragmor. That was part of the reason I gave Elly the training session in which she had no choice but to deal with being hit often. She didn't appreciate pain, which was understandable, but she always gave up before she was actually hurt. I knew she'd put up with the pain if she had a reason for it, too. Take hunting! She would go hunting even though her prey often fought back. She just didn't like it in a battle scenario. I'd hoped that with enough practice, she'd learn what I learned when I was a kid: If you can't put up with a little pain, nothing will ever be fun.

It was starting to work, too. When she realized I was okay, Elly nudged me, careful not to gore me with those face fangs of hers. She wanted to keep going.

"I can't believe they're not exhausted yet," Melvin said. "Aren't you working them too hard?"

I shook my head when I saw how much energy Reggie and Elly still had. Even Conch and Siggy were moving at their usual speeds as they watched other training activities in the arena. "I figured something out in all my recent battles. The most powerful pokémon isn't always the one that hits the hardest, although that helps. But the one that always gets back up has the best chance of victory. I'm trying to make sure these guys always get back up."

I don't know if Melvin was moved by my answer, but I thought it was touching.

* * *

><p>If he wanted to show off the thickness of his pokémon's skin, then I'd just find the chink in that armor. "Reggie! Use Double Kick!" My big kitty pounced right beside the opponent and planted both of his hind legs in the steelgoyle's skin—both in its upper leg.<p>

"Not good enough to break through the Iron Defense," Long replied boastfully. "Use Steel Wing!" The steelgoyle raised both of its scythe-shaped wings overhead and moved to bring them and their pointed tips into piercing Reggie's fur-covered body. A couple more hits like that would hurt him a lot.

"Dig!" I screamed.

The points on those wings thrust forward hard enough to get wedged in the ground. Reggie wasn't beneath them anymore. He dug straight into the ground like it was made of sand. I wouldn't have thought he could dig into a solid mountaintop so easily, yet Reggie made it look easy. As an added bonus, he collapsed the ground underneath the steelgoyle's feet, dropping it into a shallow sinkhole and shaking its defenses.

"Now you've got him," I said as Reggie pulled himself back out of the ground. He shook the dirt free from his body and turned back to the steelgoyle, which struggled to get back to its feet. "Smother him with all the Ember power you can muster!" Reggie took in a deep breath and unleashed a huge wave of fire, filling the sinkhole with it and continuing to pile on the flames. All that stamina training showed with how long Reggie was able to continue his attack.

"Baton Pass!"

Suddenly the steelgoyle disappeared, but a small light remained in its place for the duration of time it took Long to summon his next, enormous pokémon.

It was Long's trump card—the ultimate dragon Elliott's grunts once warned me about. Wyrmnir evolved from dragmor in order to expand its power. Its snout elongated and sharpened. Its new nose was sharp and efficient for scraping armor off strong prey. Those spikes on a dragmor's cheeks grew longer and rounder, growing sharp spikes of their own. The puny wings that sprouted from a dragmor's midsection grew and split. Wyrmnir's back appeared to have four wings, and each one curled over. The stubby tail lengthened into a perfect counterbalance, with a split-ribbon tip that looked like a cat-of-nine-tails.

_075-Wyrmnir_

_Dragon Pokémon_

_[Dragon] [Steel]_

_Average Height: 9'8"_

_Average Weight: 950.4 lb._

_This pokémon was once used as a guardian of Protium, the capital city of Hydrogen. It would breathe poison into the land around it to keep intruders away._

"Come out, Elly!" With a burst of light, my dragmor popped out onto the field and braced herself in front of me with a fierce scowl and a mighty roar. My cuddly little dragon was growing stronger, and this was her chance to prove it.

"This is the battle everyone was looking forward to," Long pointed out. His pokémon clearly had the size and weight advantage, as well as a good portion of the intimidation factor. Both had shimmering skin and sinewy bodies, suggesting great health and training. Wyrmnir's skin was particularly shiny, probably because that Baton Pass gave it the same boost to its steel skin that steelgoyle spent so long accumulating. There was no question in my mind Elly was a tough competitor in this fight. The only question was whether one week of intense training was sufficient for her to beat Long's ace fighter.

I took a deep breath and gave a quick nod, indicating my readiness for the battle. "Dragon Rage!" Elly drew in a deep breath and spewed a cloud of dragon smoke while simultaneously emitting a shockwave.

"Dragon Rush," Long responded. That's the moment I realized Long had already repositioned himself on top of the rocky overpass where he could watch the battle without being involved in it. Instead of trying to avoid Elly's attack, the wyrmnir flexed all its muscles and charged. I panicked and scrambled up the slope to the other side of the overpass just in time to avoid being caught up in two dragons rolling along the ground to the outside of the arena. It was a dangerous area. One wrong step out there and either of our pokémon could end the battle by accident.

"Use Dragon Rage again, and then retreat back around to the other side!" I commanded. Elly spewed another attack. As soon as she finished, she began trotting back around the side of the arena until she found another opening. Long waited until she was in the safety of the main arena before issuing his next command.

"Attack with DragonBreath."

"Whip up a Twister!"

Wyrmnir spewed a stream of dragon fire that moved quickly and fiercely across the arena as if the ground were coated in an accelerant. Elly spewed her own breath and gave a little twist of the neck, which caused her breath attack to whirl. With increasing pressure, her attack turned into a full Twister. A lot of the wyrmnir's fire was sucked up into the twister and returned back at Long's dragon, but the heat and shockwaves still struck Elly hard. A week earlier, she would've been knocked out by that attack. My training wasn't responsible for all of her endurance, though. I think she saw the wyrmnir as a rival, driving her to push herself even harder.

"Use Dragon Rage again!" After all that time Long spent beefing up his pokémon's defenses, Elly and I weren't going to risk getting into a physical confrontation if we could help it.

But Long liked the idea of a physical fight. "Use Outrage!" His wyrmnir again rushed straight through the Dragon Rage attack and closed in on my dragmor. Was that wyrmnir invincible? Were Elly's attacks even affecting it at all? The wyrmnir slammed its body into Elly and then began thrashing about. Every time its head or tail hit Elly, my dragmor flinched heavily. She tried to move away, but she was pinned between a wyrmnir and the mountain walls. She wouldn't even be able to manage one more Dragon Rage.

"That's good, Elly," I said as I pulled her back into her pokéball. It was a long fight for my big poochy. I couldn't be prouder of the effort she gave. Though I began to think it was possible for a minute there, I expected Elly wouldn't be able to win. It was going to take a team effort to beat a pokémon like that wyrmnir.

The next pokéball I touched was the one that held Elliott's scrafty. I kept forgetting I had it with me. A fighting-type would certainly be helpful against a steel-type, but it felt weird even considering using someone else's pokémon in battle.

"What's wrong?" Long asked me. He tossed a couple of berries for his wyrmnir to snack on. "You seem distracted."

I confessed, "Maybe a little."

* * *

><p>"Well, well. It's Gus, just as I suspected." I turned my head to see Anthony, the Golden Skier from that day I pretended to know how to ski. He was dressed in his black ski clothes, but he had removed his red cap. From the flush in his cheeks, I guessed he recently finished with a skiing workout and needed to cool off slightly. "I heard someone had jumped into the cold springs and yours was the first face that sprang to mind."<p>

"Because I'm so bold and innovative, right?"

"I don't know you well enough to describe you that way. I merely thought about how cold the water must be and the insanity one must have before choosing to hop in. Folks have complained constantly all week about the temperature."

"People complain about everything," I replied. "My sister used to complain when I wore socks that didn't match in color. I told her they were the same to me because I go by thickness."

Alm perked up and chimed in at that point. "That's an acceptable reason. Perception is a large part of reality. If you never look at your socks but they don't feel noticeably different when you walk, then perceptually they may as well be the same."

I smiled. "That's why I like you, Alm. You're so good with words."

Anthony suggested to him, "I believe Gus was making a joke out of the situation by acknowledging the underlying psychology without explaining it to us in the moment. But don't worry. From what I can tell, his sense of humor is an acquired taste."

"Now _you_ sound like my sister."

Anthony gave a curt smile, showing off that wispy mustache of his. "Charmed. I understand you have arranged to battle with Long tomorrow at the Dragon Gym, and then you intend to make your way back down the mountain."

"That sounds about right."

He produced a card from his pocket and set it down with my clothes. "I simply wished to leave you with my contact information before you left. Sooner or later, you will end up in Plumbum Town. I do hope you will stop by for a drink."

"I will. Thanks."

Somehow Anthony was better at reading my expressions than anyone else I'd met. Or maybe I wasn't very good at hiding my feelings, and no one else really cared enough to ask me about them. "Are you feeling stressed about something?"

I splashed the water just a bit. "It's this, I guess. The cold springs. I kinda wonder how the city's going fare without the hot springs. These were pretty much the whole source of tourism, and now it's my fault they aren't even hot anymore."

Alm explained, "Technically it's not your fault. The root cause was an especially powerful fire pokémon underground heating up half the city by itself. The fact that it's gone now can't be blamed on you. Had you not rescued it from such abuse, it may well have died from exhaustion soon." He offered me a thumbs-up and a big smile. "On a personal note, I got a week's extension in my research trip because the environment changed so much." He may be a science nerd, but that clarification actually made me feel a little better.

Anthony was right there with him. "Do not worry about the city. I have spoken with a few associates including Long. Although her methods were poor, Charlotte Ellie was fairly brilliant with her plan to heat the springs. The city officials in her place plan to hire trainers with fire pokémon to help return the city to its former state. Of course, we will need plumbing to send the heat straight to all the right locations, but before long, everything will be normal again. Much more sustainable, too. That is an important step. Plus, the Salamander Temple will offer an additional tourist attraction, offering travelers the opportunity to visit the hiding place of the legendary Salamorder."

I think the relief I felt showed on my face.

"Fret no longer," Anthony assured me. "Argentum City is better having known you. You leave it in better condition than when you arrived."

* * *

><p>I smiled at Long. "I still have my doubts sometimes, but I can't do anything other than what feels right in the moment. And right now, I'm calling Reggie back to battle!" In a flash, my flaming conflacat appeared back on the field. He was a huge cat, but he looked almost like a bug next to the wyrmnir. "Use Ember!"<p>

"Use Heavy Slam!"

Just as Reggie began spewing a big fireball, the wyrmnir hopped up the wall on the side of the arena and bounced back toward the middle, position itself directly over Reggie when it began to fall. I realized in that moment the second purpose of using Iron Defense: It made his steel pokémon even heavier just so this attack would be deadlier than normal.

"Pig!"

I was smart enough to brace myself before the wyrmnir hit the ground and rocked the entire mountain. It felt like the entire gym could get knocked off its foundation and go sliding down in a mountain avalanche. Fortunately, the ground seemed to hold up. I knew there were attacks that caused pokémon to flinch and lose track of the battle. Now I knew there were a few that could make trainers flinch, too.

"Was that an attempt to distract me?" Long asked.

"What?"

"Calling me a pig."

I grinned. "I didn't say 'pig.'"

He looked confused. "What did you say?"

Suddenly that wyrmnir felt the ground explode under its left side. A moment later, the same thing happened on the right. It started to retreat when it experienced another couple of ground explosions near its haunches. One last explosion of the ground hit it straight under its belly. The big dragon looked irritated and hurt.

Finally, one last explosion preceded Reggie climbing back out of the ground a few meters away. "Glad to have you back," I said. "Enjoy your Dig?" I put emphasis on that last word so Long would understand that his wyrmnir's attack completely missed Reggie thanks to his being underground, though it shook him up a lot. That was why it took him so long to find his target with that Dig attack.

"Use Outrage!" Long commanded.

"Earthquake." Reggie charged at the wyrmnir and leaped deftly over the dragon's attack swipe. He hit the ground hard and flipped over, hitting it a second time. On the second touch, the ground collapsed beneath the wyrmnir's feet. Those holes Reggie created with his Dig attack weakened the ground, and all that extra weight the wyrmnir packed on brought about a bigger sinkhole. It was quite a sight watching that giant dragon being sucked into the ground and flipped over. "Finish it off with all the Ember power you can muster!" Reggie began spewing fire unstoppably into the crater while the wyrmnir struggled on its back.

Long looked incredibly reluctant to do it, but he withdrew the wyrmnir into its pokéball. "That's enough. This challenge is over."

I squeezed the rocks on the overpass, trying to contain my excitement. "Does that we win?"

"Yes, it does," he replied.

"But isn't your steelgoyle still battle-ready?"

"He won't last long against the pokémon you still have to battle with," Long confessed. "I didn't realize your conflacat knew Earthquake. I wouldn't want my steel-and-fire pokémon to have to suffer through that." We met at the bottom of the slopes leading to the overpass and he handed me a round badge and a complimentary TM. "I'd rather concede the match and allow you to take this Silver Badge with you. Congratulations, Gus. Now you're one step closer to your goal."

* * *

><p><em>I tried a different narrative style for this chapter in order to tie up all the loose ends of Argentum City in a single chapter. I thought the flashbacks would flow a little better than a bunch of section breaks. I welcome feedback on the topic. I feel like the shortness of the battle with Long doesn't do justice to the strength of his team, but this chapter ended up a lot longer than planned and I didn't want to drag it out more. One point of realism I believe in is recovering HP when you have even a moment's reprieve. So when Elly hid for a moment, she regained a little bit of stamina. Same with Reggie. Just keep in mind that it really was a close match, even though Gus still had Sigilyph to fall back on.<em>

_To address a point made by **MidsummerMoonlight99 **last time: __One thing I believe in that doesn't get addressed in the games is losing levels. If a championship trainer stops training for a few years, or trains only minimally, both trainer and pokémon will lose levels. Elliott's jowrie was one of her amateur pokémon she had caught since leaving Unova's championship, but she's also been embroiled with politics lately and hadn't spent as much time training as Gus has. I hope that's a believable explanation. I appreciate the feedback, though. Thanks for keeping me honest and serious about the story!_

_**Trivia:** wyrmnir = wyrm + gungnir_  
><em>A wyrm is a name for a European dragon, and Gungnir was the name of Odin's spear. Because a dragmor evolves into a dragon with a spear-like snout, I called it wyrmnir. This is one of my favorite names I came up with.<em>


	33. Cut

Cut

At first, I wasn't a big fan of sleeping in Argentum City immediately following the events at the Salamander Temple. Can you imagine how cold the snow got after all the fire underground disappeared? It was bad enough being cold in the pool all day without needing twelve blankets or a conflacat to keep warm at night, too. Spending the night in a ski resort without a furnace is how I know the light really does go out when you close the refrigerator.

All my whining seemed really stupid once we left, though. The first night after we started back down the mountain, I remembered what it was like to sleep on rocks. And with no sleeping bag because I decided that 800 was better spent on stuffing my cheeks with candy and almonds than on a place to warm my frozen toes. Lucky for me I could wipe a piece of cheese on my ankles and have a conflacat spend all night licking them with his flame-kissed tongue.

"You really are an idiot," Lauren had told me.

"Somewhat clever, though," Blade pointed out.

The morning after the second night of sleeping in a small cave on the side of a mountain, I finally saw the grasslands spreading out in front of me. It looked really pretty, like a brand new green carpet laid out all over the ground. Everything to the west was rolling hills where the grass flowed with every breeze. I was probably delusional, but I thought I could even see the next town from the mountains. I watched the landscape for a few minutes until I saw what looked like a giant white worm emerging from the end of the mountain range and shooting off into the distance. Either that was the biggest gastropod the pokémon world had ever known, or the Magnet Train had another stop nearby.

I could see a savanna near to the east, dotting the landscape with trees and yellowing shrubs. From up here, I could actually see the difference between a savanna and a forest because it was pretty obvious where the trees were spaced out and where they suddenly grew so close together as to block out the sun. It looked kind of ominous and gave me a sense of foreboding like that would be a dangerous place to go.

"Let's go that way. What's out there?" I asked my experienced travel companions.

"About two hours' walk is the way to Stannum Village," Blade answered. We finally reached a warm enough climate for him to remove that wailord-sized snow coat. For the past two days, I'd forgotten how skinny he was. "It's a really small place full of people who like to keep to themselves. They're incredibly conservative, even so far as to ban the practice of owning and training pokémon."

"Really? I didn't know anyone hated pokémon that much."

He shrugged, and for a second I doubted the accuracy of his claim because of it. "Some people think of it the same way as carrying a gun. A wild pokémon will usually keep to itself, but a trained pokémon will attack people if trained to do so."

"Do you know anyone who does that?"

"No, but I don't always know what everyone is thinking. According to the stories, a gang of misguided pokémon trainers tried to rob every resident and burn the whole place to the ground. They eventually outnumbered the invaders and drove them back into the swamp, but ever since, they've forbidden pokémon to enter the village."

"Awesome story. Is that place our next stop?"

"Not on your life," Lauren interjected. "I'm not trudging through the swamp just to reach a village where I have to give up my pokémon in order to talk to people obsessed with a crazy religion." She must have seen the baffled look on my face and noticed my reluctance to talk back to her. She cleared her throat of the last of the rock dust and explained, "They worship some invisible spirits to protect them against pokémon and natural disasters. They're all insane out there."

I watched her for a moment as she took a swig of water. "Still have that tickle in the back of your throat?"

That was a mistake. She suddenly glowered at me. "I wouldn't have inhaled so much dust if you hadn't tried skating down the side of the mountain."

I had to defend my actions on that point. "The fastest way to get between two points is to follow a straight line."

"Then you should have jumped!" she shouted. "That way you would have reached the ground in one day, and Blade and I wouldn't have had that panic attack trying to save you from the avalanche you started."

"Elly protected me. Her thick hide deflected the rocks. And I found that little alcove to duck into so she couldn't crush me when she also tumbled down the mountainside. I was smart enough to get out without much more than a few scratches."

"You were lucky you didn't die or, worse, your dragmor got injured!"

My expression turned pouty. "Thanks for prioritizing my safety over my pokémon's."

Without missing a beat, she snapped, "Your pokémon isn't a reckless idiot."

"It took us four days to climb the mountain, and that was a long hike, if you don't remember. After all the skiing practice I got, I just thought I could cut the trip shorter so we wouldn't exhaust our food supplies before we get to Stannum Village."

Blade stepped in. "You had two ski lessons and three accidents. I still can't believe you thought skiing without snow was a good idea. I mean, we're in a temperate climate, so there's only enough snow to ski at the top of the mountain. Once we started down the path, you became an idiot on a suicidal death slide. But in all honesty, you did save us a day or two walking and everyone's still alive, so that's as far as I'm concerned. I have no plans to help next time you do something stupid, but let's go ahead and plan our next step."

"We're not going to Stannum," Lauren said. She pointed across the grassland toward where I saw the Magnet Train. "We're heading to Stibium City. There's an Omega building there. It's a two-day walk from here."

I asked, "Why not go to Stannum?"

"There's nothing for us to see there," Blade answered. "They've got a sports stadium and a library, but there's no gym or anything because they don't even allow pokémon."

It seemed silly to me to skip visiting someplace that was so close by, especially when they had a library and I had so many questions about Salamorder and Team Omega. "What if we just take a quick trip out there? We can stop in, check out some games, get some food, and then we can still have a two-day walk to Stibium."

"You want to give up your pokémon?" Lauren taunted me.

I shook my head. "It's probably just a concealed-carry kind of thing. No pokémon in public or you get arrested. No big deal for _one_ day."

Either I was exactly right, or Lauren had no idea what the truth was. Her reasoning turned girly when she groaned, "I am _not_ trudging through a swamp."

"Oh, so that's it. You're afraid of a little mud.

Blade laughed. "Yeah. A 'little' mud. You go on thinking that. The real issue here is that we're supposed to escort you to Stibium City."

"Really? That's the first I heard."

"I still don't trust you," Lauren commented. "Remember when Caan told us to go with you and determine whether we could trust you or not? Well I'm decided. You're a child who wouldn't survive two days without adult supervision."

"That's nonsense. I can survive three days on my hair alone. You're probably wondering how I keep it so soft and shiny when we're out camping. It's an herbal mixture of Reggie's fur, Siggy's foam, and Elly's urine. I can get you a bottle if you want one."

Blade grinned, but he cut Lauren off before she could do the same to my head. "Look, Gus. She's right. We're supposed to stay with you the whole way. Caan told you we would be with you to Argentum until you got a gym badge, but we had to check in every day, and he told us to stay with you until Stibium."

"I'm pretty sure he said you should let me do whatever I want. I have a good memory for these things." Lauren scowled at me like she had some corrupt memory banks and heard only what she wanted to hear when Caan sentenced her to follow me around. "It sounds like we're at an impasse," I suggested. "We could battle for it."

"I'm always happy to show you how a real trainer battles," Blade suggested, "but that won't change things. Orders are orders and they're non-negotiable."

Finally, I conceded the argument. "Fine," I said simply. In one swift move I whipped out my Hermes phone. "Let's just ask the boss." A moment later, the visual display on the Hermes connected me to the spooky face of Valence.

Blade smacked my arm and spoke in a harsh whisper. "Are you crazy, bothering the president of the organization with this trivial matter?"

"What?" I replied in my normal voice. "This is the default contact number I have for Team Omega. I didn't know you guys even had personal numbers."

Valence chimed in and spoke, "_We_ programmed the Hermes given to Gus. What is the purpose of this call? Report your status since the Fire Temple."

"My status?" I repeated. No one ever taught me there would be status updates in this group. "Um, well… I started my own small business in Argentum City. It wasn't especially productive, but I did get a supply of key chains I've been handing out as consolation prizes every time someone fails to guess the number of stuffed pokémon I'm hiding in my snow pants."

"No update, then," Valence interpreted. He and all those voices in his head were much better at handling my quick wit than the Omega Grunts he saddled me with. "Do you require further instruction?" He didn't sound especially upset or frustrated with the interruption, yet I felt a bit guilty about it. It wasn't often people took the time to be patient with me.

"Yeah, a little bit. Sir. Um… We've left Argentum City and climbed down the mountain. I want to go to Stannum Village while we're here but Blade and Lauren want to go straight to Stibium City. Do they have permission to let me act like a grownup and go to Stannum on my own?"

It didn't surprise me to hear Lauren grumble to her partner, "When has he ever actually _acted_ like a grownup?" The comment also amused me, but I kept my laser-like focus on Valence and his response.

"Is Lauren convinced of your innocence?"

"Of course she is," I insisted even though I had to fend off Lauren's attempted throttle to say it. "We're the best of friends now. Each of us has half a pendant so that we'll always be together even when we're apart." I had to put down the phone for a second when Lauren got hold of my ear. The jerking motion of my ear slipping through her fingertips was like starting a fire on the side of my head. By the time I got up and figured out exactly how to retaliate, she was hiding behind the steaming shell of a big turtle that spat fire at me as some kind of intimidation factor.

"You singed my shorts!" I shouted.

"Get him, Snortz!" The turtle yawned, or maybe belched, and a small fireball dispersed on the rocks right by my feet.

"Oh yeah? We'll see what Siggy has to say about that!"

The raspy voice called from the phone, "Blade?" While Lauren and I battled, Blade picked up the Hermes and addressed Valence as "Boss." Valence asked, "Do you believe Gus betrayed us in the Gnome Temple?"

Blade watched Siggy land a Foamy Punch right as Snortz withdrew into his shell. Siggy threw a few more, even though they seemed to do no damage to the torkoal's shell. "No, sir. I believe he's being honest when he says he didn't expect to see his sister there."

"Why do you trust him?"

"Because he's too stupid to pull off something like that."

"Hey!" I shouted. "I resent that."

Lauren added. "You're a moron."

Offering Valence something more specific, Blade explained, "He had Salamorder—the most powerful fire pokémon I've ever seen—in his hand and he gave it up to the Marshals. Without much of a fight, even. I mean… What kind of pokémon trainer does that?"

"He's not wrong," I yelled. Maybe if Valence thought I was incredibly humble I'd get some kind of promotion or something. I remembered the intensity of that moment very well. The fires of Salamorder were strong enough to melt the sweat that poured off me when I was around that dragon's skin. Any water attack evaporated before it even drizzled on those molten scales. One bite from its fiery fangs could devour a cinderblock. Of course I was an idiot to give that up!

Why did I do it, again?

"New orders," Valence spoke. Even Lauren, who had called out Spitz and Snortz in a team battle against Siggy and Reggie, called for a ceasefire to ensure she heard Valence's command with her own ears.

"Go ahead, sir," she spoke.

"What pies and sauterne disgrace."

My ears perked up. "What kind of riddle is that? Pies aren't disgraceful. I love pie! I'm not old enough to drink, though."

Blade and Lauren both glowered at me intensely. I tried to act innocent, but even Reggie and Siggy shied away from me. Some best friends, leaving me vulnerable like that. Spitz and Snortz looked like they were laughing at me. Sheepishly, I admitted, "Sometimes I stop listening and words sound different to me. What did he really say?"

"He said our orders are to cut ties and return to base," Blade said. Speaking into the Hermes, he said, "Orders received, sir. Lauren and I will rendezvous at Omega base in Stibium City. Gus can choose whatever he wants to do next. Just head to Stibium when you're done in Stannum."

"I can?" I know! That was totally the opposite of what I was expecting. "Does that mean it's just me and the pokémon again?"

"Almost," Lauren countered. Considering how her torkoal threw himself into Siggy and her croconaw spewed a steady stream of water at Reggie, I got the impression that she wasn't done battling my pokémon. Maybe she was going to miss me. We had developed a sort of grudging appreciation for one another. I wouldn't say we were exactly close, but I wouldn't mind getting another look at that tattoo, either.

"Oh, crap!" While I daydreamed, Siggy and Reggie sat there taking a beating without my instruction to keep them safe. "Um… Reggie, use—Look out, Siggy!" I was thinking of having Reggie fight back with a Flame Charge or something, but watching Siggy's body turned dark under the heat of a Flamethrower distracted me from the other side of the battle.

Trying to be faster this time, I shouted, "Reggie, use Flame Charge. Siggy, use Foamy Punch." I did it! I successfully delivered commands to both my pokémon simultaneously! Reggie burst into flames and darted across the field like an arrow headed straight for Spitz. He must have outweighed the croconaw by a hundred pounds or more. A physical collision between the two, even with Spitz's natural defense against fire, was going to cause some good damage. But in my zeal, I didn't take notice of the fact that Siggy was not fast and there was a great deal of distance between him and Snortz to cover before he could land a punch.

Spitz responded to Reggie's attack by blasting him with a Water Gun. Reggie's fire had grown more intense with training so he continued running through the blast, but the physics of it gave Spitz a little backward push that made it easy to bounce right off of Reggie's side and suffer very little. Siggy took so long to waddle up the Snortz's face that he suffered two more Flamethrowers. And it wasn't even worth it because his punch never connected with the giant turtle. Before it could, the torkoal withdrew into his shell and spun away rapidly. I recognized the cracking sound of Siggy's fist connecting with the tough exterior shell of a skilled torkoal.

"Hit 'em again," was all Lauren had to say to convince her pokémon to repeat their attacks. Water Gun was pretty devastating for my conflacat, and even though Siggy's foamy skin resisted heat to a degree, constant fire attacks were drying out his skin and increasing the damage he suffered.

Obviously, there was only one solution. "Reggie, use Earthquake!" That attack should do the trick. There was no avoiding an attack from the ground itself. Even Lauren and I would be unable to avoid it, let alone either of her pokémon. And Siggy was much more resilient than either of them in a shakedown. After wobbling for a moment to recover from being doused, Reggie bounded into the air and pounded the ground, bouncing up just enough to flip over and land hard on all fours. The shockwave he sent through the mountainside shook the ground hard enough to knock me off my feet and onto my butt. My only solace was the look on Lauren's face when she hit the ground. Either she landed directly on her tailbone, or she shouted a dirty word!

With my rear planted firmly on the ground, I perused the field. Siggy's body had flattened slightly during the attack, but his skin resumed its usual shape pretty quickly so I knew he'd be okay. Spitz busily tried to unfurl his tail from around his stumpy legs. Those feet squirmed with a lot of energy, though, so I wasn't sure he suffered much. But Snortz showed the best kind of reaction I could have hoped for. During the attack, the torkoal had the wherewithal to withdraw into his shell for defense. But uncontrolled bouncing around the terrain landed him on his back. The rounded shell made it difficult to flip back over even after he stuck his legs back out into the open air. His soft underbelly was perfectly exposed.

"Team up!" I shouted. "Body Slam and Foamy Punch on that torkoal!" Siggy took a moment to get back to his feet, but Reggie took off and leaped into the air. Something was odd, though. As he pushed off the ground, Reggie leaped with a poor trajectory, headed slightly to the side of the sweet spot that would have guaranteed a knockout.

Didn't matter, though. Before he could land, Reggie was slammed in the sir by a Water Gun attack. Instead of a steady stream designed to douse my fiery feline, it was a focused, concussive burst of water designed to pelt him with attacks that would shove him aside to alter his trajectory to avoid Snortz. So Reggie's attack would have missed either way.

But Spitz's attack was right on target. The water attack pounded off of Reggie's side and, instead of being absorbed by his skin, splattered through the air. Whatever fell on Siggy helped to moisten his body and return the protective foam to his skin. He wasn't perfectly shielded by any means, but he looked more comfortable.

"Snortz! Use Smokescreen!" Lauren's command struck me as a silly one. Even if she covered the field in smoke, I already knew where the torkoal was, and it couldn't flip over while it was rolling around on its shell like that.

"Smokescreen, really? Are you hoping the dry air will weaken my golfoam? Or is it because that's all you can do with an upside-down torkoal?"

Snortz rolled back intentionally until he rested perfectly on the center of his shell before he began his attack. The smoke piled up beneath the volcanic shell at the exact center, perfectly controlled so not a single molecule of smoke leaked out anywhere else. When the pressure finally reached its breaking point, Snortz popped up into the air just high enough to complete a single flip, landing his heavy shell on his belly, right-side-up once more.

"Do you ever tire of being wrong?" Lauren mocked me.

"Sometimes. But you have to admit I'm good at it!"

"Admit _this_," she replied with some kind of weird threat I didn't fully understand.

I was never a very patient person, especially when the other person wasn't talking about me. "Sunny Day!" Wounded as he was, Reggie had the energy to release countless particles of fire into the upper atmosphere. What few clouds had once dotted the sky dried up and faded while the air became dry and parched my throat. I think even my nostrils dried up because I sneezed three times.

Lauren appeared to be puzzled. "Are you trying to weaken the strength of my Water Gun attack by drying out the air?"

"No. I'm trying to set the stage for Siggy to kick your butt. SolarBeam!"

She hadn't noticed, but even as Siggy drew moisture from the air to keep himself foaming, he also drew in the sun's rays and converted them into an attack—one he kept hidden until the moment its power grew too heavy to hold. All that solar energy erupted from his skin like a nuclear bomb channeled through an invisible tunnel connecting directly with Spitz's belly. The beam was too bright to look at directly, yet for reason I tried it. It made me sneeze. But that was a delightful side effect compared to how Spitz suffered. The attack plowed him into the rocks and dried out his water-spewing tongue.

Lauren was shocked. "SolarBeam? How in the world did your golfoam learn that?"

"The same way my conflacat learned Earthquake. I finally decided to try out those TMs I got from the gym leaders. Siggy resonated better with SolarBeam, which would let him land some powerful hits. And giving Reggie Earthquake just seemed like a good way for him to battle against anything. I mean, he already loves digging so much. Why not give him the ability to break things, too?"

Speaking of breaking things, Spitz was still breathing, but he wasn't moving. "That looks like a knockout to me," I suggested. Chuckling was the best I could do to keep my excitement in check. Maybe I struggled a little with the team battle in the beginning, but I figured it out! How awesome was that combo to have Reggie use Sunny Day to make SolarBeam even stronger?!

"Now it's two against one. Good time to withdraw, don't you think?"

Blade had been standing on the sidelines uninvolved in our match until the earthquake, but suddenly he had something to say. "You're an idiot."

"Not the most gracious way to lose."

"That's not what I meant. I mean a real talented pokémon trainer would have switched his conflacat for his fishtain. I'm actually surprised you didn't use Sigilyph. He's far and away your strongest pokémon. I mean…" He motioned clearly toward Reggie. He was wobbling as he walked, and he couldn't even manage sitting straight without falling over. "Look at your poor pokémon. He's suffered so much more than he needed to. You should avoid water-types."

"Funny. Aren't you the one who taught me how to make my fire pokémon better able to fight a water-type?"

"That doesn't mean you do it every time. No matter how strong you make Reggie or how much time he spends playing in the water, he will always be miserable when he suffers water attacks. It's in his biology the same way exposure to radium will poison you and repeated exposure will kill you faster."

I couldn't help frowning at him. "You're just one big jigglypuff full of joy, aren't you?" On a hunch, I asked, "Are you doing that thing where you're actually sad that we're going our separate ways so you pretend to be mad at me in order to help soften the blow."

"You really are a buffoon," Lauren replied harshly. But even though she looked at me with the burning eyes of the devil, I'm sure that just meant she was going to miss me, too. "Snortz, use Smog!" Suddenly the torkoal withdrew into his shell, and a kind of purple gas spewed from all openings with high pressure. It was like watching a smoke ball with a leak, except the stench was a lot like the pungent aroma of a burning building. I think it sheared all the hairs straight out of my nose, so it didn't surprise me at all to watch Reggie stumble. Come to think of it, he had been having difficulty standing up straight for a few minutes already.

I wondered aloud, "What's wrong with you?"

Lauren laughed at me, that kind of heavy, painful laugh that clearly she found me to be as perceptive as a zubat taking a driving test. "Your conflacat is getting ready to evolve."

Reggie had stopped moving and his breathing had turned shallow. It looked like he was getting ready to cough up a hairball. "Are you sure?" Suddenly Reggie's entire body lit up bright white as his cells began to emit the incredible amounts of energy required for metamorphosis. Looking directly at him burned my eyes.

"Pretty sure."

* * *

><p><em>First chapter back in a while, and what better way to start than with Gus experiencing another near-death scenario! I have three more chapters of my other story before I make this one my regular priority again, but the next chapter will be entertaining. Gus is finally free of Lauren and Blade, and he's headed through the swamp toward a small village that outlawed pokémon. And perhaps he'll find a new friend! See you then!<em>

_**Trivia:** Lauren is partially based on Margaret Houlihan from M*A*S*H. If you've never watched the show, believe me when I say you have no idea how annoying she is. She is also partially a friend from school. Blade's honesty thing didn't turn out as funny as I'd hoped, but he'll be back eventually and maybe he'll get some good lines in then._


	34. Disable

_(EMERGENCY NOTE: Be sure to reread the very end of the previous chapter ("Cut"). I changed it a little and this chapter doesn't directly address it for dramatic reasons.)_

* * *

><p>Disable<p>

I am ashamed to say my experience with women has often been lackluster at best, I feel extraordinarily confident that the primary reason Lauren didn't want to enter the swamp had less to do with getting mud on her shoes and more to do with the incessant swarms of yanma. Imagine the feeling of joy when you realize a bunch of four-foot-long bugs think your skin smells like the sweetest thing in the whole swamp.

Was it a swamp? Maybe it was a marsh. Both are types of wetlands, I think. This place was pretty well forested. What was the difference? More importantly, why was I thinking about that instead of figuring out a formula to turn some of my potions into bug repellant?

Probably because I had the best bug repellant I needed in my pokéballs. Amazing how quickly those yanma scattered when pillows of flame spewed into the air. Kinda shocking the ugly trees never caught fire, though. Sure, it was much safer when I didn't have to worry about being surrounded by fire and accidentally burning down a whole town I was headed toward. But I hadn't expected the swamp air to consume the fire like that. Even a few flaming yanma were extinguished immediately by the intense moisture leaking from the swamp water.

And that was only half of why I looked so dirty and disgusting. Every time I turned around, Reggie was digging by the base of another tree, flinging mud and grime in every direction around him and making my nice boots look like novelty grimer-themed slippers. When I was pelted from behind and heard another sloshing sound, I found Reggie buried haunches-deep in another giant hole in the muck.

"Reggie! Stop! Heel, boy! Seriously. I'm glad you found that TM and that yellow-and-black pokéball and even that weird hard candy, which I'd be nervous about keeping if it weren't vacuum sealed. But I'd really like you to stop throwing mud at me!" I turned away and grumbled under my breath that I'd leave him behind if he didn't keep up. The loud splashing sounds followed by hot breath on my bad and a gross, wet nose on my shoulder told me Reggie was close behind again. Maybe I'd finally get out of the swamp before he could find something else to dig up.

Fortunately, after an hour and a half of sloshing around, I found myself in a rather large clearing where high walls marked separation of nature from man. The walls were sheer, too, and sturdy. I'm not sure even a rhyhorn could get through there. I couldn't really hear anything on the other side, but I did get the impression there was something big going on. Some sort of hustle and bustle over there filled the air with a sense of excitement. There was no telling from here how long it would take to walk around to find an entrance, but I couldn't foresee climbing, either.

For reference, it only took me forty seconds to find a gate, big and made of something solid like iron. Just when I figured the only option was to knock, some guy opened a small peephole and commanded, "Stop! State your business." At first, I only saw a giant nose poke through the hole. I mean, it looked like a boomerang covered in skin, or like a fleshy sail taking the wind. Seriously, though, it was one huge honker. But then he pulled his face out of the peephole and I could see his eyes—black and beady, but overall much less concerning than his massive proboscis.

"My business is nose of yours. Er, I mean it's none of your nose." I huffed in hopes of catching my breath. Suddenly I couldn't focus on speaking without that guy's nose butting into my thoughts. Giving up the battle, I just said, "Well, it's snot."

Those beady eyes narrowed closer together. I wasn't off to a good start. "Why are you here?" He didn't sound angry, but rather his tone was steady.

"I actually don't have a real reason. I came down the mountain from Argentum City today and thought I would come by to see what the town has to offer."

Those eyes searched me up and down for a moment, taking in the view of my clothes.

"It's a little muddy out there. My pokémon won't stop digging and flinging swamp water at me."

For a moment I saw the nose again as it said, "You look more like you fell in."

Apparently I didn't hide that fact as well as I thought I did. "Soaked" wasn't exactly the right word to describe my clothes. More like I used swamp water for conditioner. I tried to make up for my appearance with attitude. "A swarm of yanma caught me off guard. They came out of nowhere. Pretty sure I swallowed a few."

The guard informed me, "They're good protein. What in God's name is that thing?" I followed his gaze to Reggie: all four hundred pounds of him with his overly pronounced shoulders and full, raggedy mane. The flames licking the tip of his tail also drew attention, plus I put a sigilyph feather behind his ear because it looked cool.

"You've never seen an immolion before?"

"Pokémon are not allowed inside Stannum Village. You may come in, but you must surrender all pokéballs, and we will not open this gate until your big cat is withdrawn inside one."

"Yeah… I heard about that." But somehow the warning didn't make me any more eager to do it. Just hand over Reggie and Siggy and Elly and Conch to some villagers who were afraid of pokémon? The idea was preposterous!

The guard obviously noticed my hesitation. "You'll receive a signed claim ticket for your belongings along with a value exchange in the event your pokémon are not returned to you in the same condition you seal them."

I suffered another harrowing moment of hesitation before I finally drew Reggie back inside the pokéball. I came all this way, after all. Why not go look around for just a little while? "I spent fifteen years without a single pokémon by my side. I can handle one day. Let's do it."

"Okay." A slot opened in the wall, like a pocket made out of the same material as the wall but with one open side at an angle. "Place all pokémon including any empty pokéballs in the slot, please."

"Seriously?"

"Just a precaution. The gate doesn't open as long as someone still has pokémon with them. Too much risk. I'll take them, open the gate, and you watch me seal them in the silo."

"You have a silo?"

"For all visiting pokémon, yes. Just place your supplies in the slot and you can see it." I could see the guard's eyes as he awaited my decision. It was one thing to say I wanted to come in, but it was another thing to disable myself by giving up my only real means of defense.

I disconnected my satchel from my belt and slid it into the slot. "Guess I'll have to count on my disarming wit and offbeat charm for now." A sudden pang of guilt struck me deep in the chest as the slot disappeared and the gate opened. Access to a small village surrounded by a swamp, and all it cost was my pokémon.

Once I stepped inside the gate, the village overtook me. There was a lot less empty space than I expected to see. A lot of buildings clustered together in front of the gate. Most of them were single-story, though a couple of them popped out overhead at a striking two stories high. They could have been residences, or maybe a storage unit. Every building was closed up, which was weird for daytime.

"What's going on in town?" I asked.

"Everyone is at the stadium for the football game," said the guard. A quick look around showed me how right he was. I didn't see anybody wandering, but I could hear shouting a short distance away. The village was heavily wooded, but on the inside of the gate, I could make out the stadium lights beside the outer wall.

"Did you want to watch me lock your pokémon in here?" His question reminded me about what he was doing now that he had my pokémon. I turned in time to see him open a small silo—like a tune-shaped storage shed with a beveled roof and a really big lock on the door. He dropped my satchel in what looked like a locked deposit box one might find at a bank, and then he sealed up the door to the silo again. In his hand he held a tin statuette of a soldier. "Satisfied?"

"I'll make do. You realize this thing means nothing to me?"

"That's the idea. Return it when you leave the village and your pokémon will be returned to you. Outside the gate, of course."

"Of course." I looked away and pointed. "How long ago did the football game start?"

"Less than twenty minutes. You haven't missed much yet."

"Aren't you disappointed you don't get to go?"

With a slight wince, he said, "I'll see the highlights later. You go on and enjoy it. After, you'll want to find lodging at the tavern. You're too young for the adult drink, mind you, but they have beds available upstairs."

"Thanks. Any other advice?"

"Do you like football?"

I shrugged. "It's okay."

His expression turned to pity, like he was seeing a man off to his own execution. "Do better than that if you don't want to suffer for it."

How cryptic, and definitely frightening enough for me to walk away. It was one thing for the Elder to give me vague threats back in Natrium, and that was how Brooke and I communicated with one another. But I was all alone in a strange village I'd never visited before. I was so far from home, and the sense of loneliness was compounded by the fact that we were surrounded by swamplands that provided very few tourists. The lifeless streets didn't help much. Plus, I think I may have caught something in the swamp.

When I found my way to the stadium and heard more clearly the wild commotion I had heard outside the village walls, the hurt in my throat dulled a little bit. I guess the smell of stadium hot dogs was all I needed!

The stadium wasn't all that big until I realized that absolutely everyone in town except for the gate guard was present. I had assumed he was exaggerating when he used the word "everyone," but he was right. The north and south ends of the stadium were just tunnels for the two teams to enter the field of play. As soon as they did, I started to assume the real reason the people of this town remained separate from everyone else was their fashion sense. One team wore uniforms with neon yellow with powder blue while their opponents wore red and green. Festive colors, sure, but hardly right for football. Watching the uniforms run around like someone with internal bleeding threw up on a football field. I took a seat all the way in the back of the stands right next to the wall.

The teams actually played pretty well, I think. Football isn't really my sport so I can't guarantee either team ever scored or completed the objectives of the game. Nothing could be clearer, though, than the fact that the fans were completely obsessed with the game. Every single time one of the guys in the black-and-white prison outfits threw a yellow bean bag on the field someone in the stadium would stand up and pitch a terrible fit. And when one guy threw a fit, there was inevitably another guy who would come back at him and get in his face. I'd never seen so much saliva exchanged between two people who weren't kissing.

Suddenly someone slipped into the seat directly beside me. The shock was that she popped in unseen from behind me. "Don't you love small town folk? Their problems are so simple."

"Charlie?" It was Charlotte Ellie, the girl mayor of Argentum City—the one who was just arrested by the Marshals Service of Perioble. She wore a white camouflage tank top with a black hoodie and gray cargo pants. Her hoodie was matched by a black baseball cap turned backward. Not a bad ensemble when compared with the orange jumpsuit she ought to be wearing by that point. "How did you get here?"

"I came down the mountain same as you."

"Probably not the exact same way," I commented. "More importantly, why aren't you in handcuffs? Did you kill Marshal Ray?"

"First of all, the plan was never to kill him," said Elliott. She stuck her finger in my face. "I broke the seal on Slash's pokéball so that he could follow me and break me out after the tranquilizers Ray filled him with wore off. That plan was shot right away when you decided to capture him. Admittedly I was furious at first and just wanted to throttle you, but when I had a chance to calm down and think about it, it's sweet that you were trying to protect him for me."

"So how did you get away without him?"

"It was the strangest thing. Ray just suddenly stopped, unlocked my cuffs, and told me to get lost."

"Yeah," I scoffed. "I'm sure that's exactly what happened."

"Believe what you want." She showed me a great ball that looked remarkably like it came from the batch I bought in Cuprum. She winked and said, "Thanks for your help, sweetie."

"What? How did you get that? I put that in the silo with my other pokémon."

"It was like breaking into an unlocked closet."

"No, it wasn't. I watched the guard lock up that silo tighter than a bank vault."

Elliott shrugged. "I borrowed the keys. I couldn't let them disable me by taking away my pokémon." She pulled from her shoulder an olive green backpack and opened it. "Here's a little 'thank you' gift for taking care of Slash for me." She took a quick look in all directions and, when she was satisfied no one cared about us thanks to another yellow bean bag on the field, handed me my pokéball satchel.

"Are you crazy? These people will go nuts when they realize I have pokémon with me!" Admittedly, I felt much better having everyone back with me again, but the town prohibited pokémon by law and tradition. Having them with me made me nervous.

"Only if you let them know about it." While I checked the contents of my satchel, she leaned over and kissed me quickly on the cheek. "Thanks again. See you around." With that, she stood up and hopped over the back side of the bleachers. It was a good fifty-foot drop, but she managed to snag one of the supports on the way down and swing just long enough to slow her descent. When she let go of the support, though, her feet were too far forward; she hit the ground and took a backward tumble onto her butt.

"Exactly as you planned?" I called out.

"Shut up!"

* * *

><p><em>Thanks to <strong>Kurono-Angel<strong> for contributing Elliott to the story. Intrigued yet? One hour in the village and Gus is already breaking the rules. Will he turn in his pokémon to the silo guard, or will he hang on to them? How did Elliott escape from the Marshal? Next time, Gus will learn a little about Stannum's history, including the origin of the statue he holds from the silo.  
><em>

_**Trivia:** Immolion = immolate + lion. Other names I toyed with include Inferleo (which I rejected because it was too similar to Infernape), Fryon (which I rejected because it's too easy and it sounds odd), and Holocat (which would combine "cat" with "holocaust," which is an immense fire, but the name was rejected because it sounds weird and brings to mind one of the worst events in history)._


	35. Nature Power

Nature Power

Elliott's exit was less than the most graceful act I'd ever seen. It was like watching Craig's mareep stumble around the field that time it drank some of the Elder's "happy juice." (I'm not saying how that stuff got into the water trough, but it did start with the words "I dare you to…"). I couldn't figure where she was going—due partly to the fact that I still didn't know what else was in this town—but I couldn't help feeling grateful that she returned my pokémon to me. It had only been an hour, yet I didn't realize how tense I felt the entire time I was away from them. I kept the pokéballs hidden from sight, but I gently stroked the satchel as if they could all actually feel me stroking their fur.

"Hey, dude!"

I jumped, fully ready to throw Elliott under the bus and blame her for the fact that the police caught me with forbidden pokémon. But it wasn't any kind of authority who called me. It was a group of kids whose ages ranged from six to fourteen. A redheaded guy with a lot of freckles on his nose stood on the seats in the next row down from mine as he approached. He was a little shorter than I, but he was the tallest of his group.

Still nervous that maybe one of the kids saw my pokéballs, I quickly put on my nonchalant expression. "Can I help you?" I asked. My voice came out with an accent that suggested ignorance and possibly the inability to dress myself without help.

"You're new here," said the kid. If it was supposed to be a question, he needed to learn a little bit about inflection. "You want to go play Hide-N-Seek?"

That was unexpected. "What? Now? The game's not over."

"Trust me," the kid replied with a laugh. "The clock hasn't run out yet, but the _game_ is over. It's way too one-sided for a comeback. Come play with us. We use the whole village to hide. It's perfect because everyone in town is here, so no one gets in the way."

I shrugged, still aware that I had forbidden fruit in my satchel. "I guess I could go. It sounds more fun than this."

"Cool. I'm Fred. This is Heidy and Chuck and…" He proceeded to list more names than existed in all the genealogy of Natrium Village. Clearly Stannum was much bigger than my hometown, despite both having the designation of "village." Or else everyone here was related. I still can't remember the rest of their names, but I do remember how quickly I got caught on my first time hiding. I had run through the village toward the farthest point I could find—the north side of the village wall right where it bordered the mountains. I found a nice little crevice between two trees to hide in, but the little six-year-old boy found me after hiding for only a minute.

So then I went searching for everyone else, and I must say the village seems a lot bigger when you don't know where you're going except that you're trying to find a bunch of hiding locals who know all the good hiding places. I swear I heard so much giggling throughout that first Seek! The only reason I found that dude Chuck is because a breeze jostled the bushes everywhere except the exact spot he was hiding, and so I knew something was in the way.

Unfortunately, my second attempt at hiding didn't go much better than my first. I found out the walls to the gymnasium had little notches that made it easy to climb. The roof was pretty flat, but when I laid out spread-pidgey, no one on the ground could see me. Except Chuck, apparently. He found me almost the instant he started Seeking and just laughed about it. I was having fun exploring the village, but it was a little frustrating to find out I was so terrible at this game.

I found Heidy near someone's home. The front yard was wide open, but there was a fence as high as my head encircling the side of the property to separate it from the playground. Leafy vines covered that fence, even across the top but for a little dip in the middle. Heidy hid within the vines—a perfect hiding spot if I hadn't noticed that almost insignificant detail.

"You're good at Seeking," said Heidy. She was maybe three inches shorter and had red cheeks like she wore too much blush makeup. "You want to know why you're bad at Hiding?"

"Is it because I'm just visiting and you guys already know all the good spots?"

"No." She pointed to the air around me. "You have bugs swarming all over you."

"Really?" I looked closer and realized she was right. They were tiny and barely noticeable compared with the yanma from the swamp, which is probably why I thought they were less noticeable.

She reached into the bushes and plucked a few red berries by the stem. "Crush these and rub a little on your neck and cheeks," she told me. "The bugs don't like the smell of the berries. You'll find them all over the village."

"Thanks!" I liked the sound of keeping the bugs off of me. My skin certainly appreciated it. Luckily the berries didn't smell that bad to me, nor did they burn or even tingle when I rubbed the juice on me. With a look, I said, "You realize you just made it harder for you to find me?"

"Then I will find someone else," said Heidy. "Now go run off while I count."

"Yes, ma'am."

She giggled as she hid her eyes near the vines while she began counting to thirty. That gave me approximately thirty seconds to hide. Not a lot of time to keep quiet, so I stayed near the houses. There was one across the street with a huge wooden fence surrounding it. The gate was unlocked—a strange contrast to the big sign that said something to the effect of "Don't Enter." I just figured that would make it an even better hiding spot.

It didn't take a lot of imagination to see why the brick building was cordoned off. The foundation was obviously worn because the house seemed to stand at a tilt. It looked like an electrode went off inside. The front door was nonexistent, even taking a large section of wall with it. But that made it easy to slip inside and tuck myself right behind a huge chunk of collapsed mortar as I chuckled at my marvelous hiding spot. I waited there quietly for about a minute before I started to wonder: _Why isn't anyone else using this as a hiding spot?_

Finally, I stopped to look around. The house looked like someone's home, but only if that someone abandoned the place fifty years earlier. The corner of the room showed a plant with no leaves sitting in a heap among the pieces of a shattered planter. A dining table next to it looked mostly usable, but it tilted dramatically to the right, putting it in contact with the wall. The chairs were broken to the point of looking more like wooden discs. Bookshelves lay overturned, and scraps of what may have been books a long time ago coated the floor. Crates and boxes sat around the grand window, which didn't have a single fragment of glass remaining.

"What is this place?"

Unable to stop myself, I wandered through the small room into the next. This room had a skylight in the form of a massive hole in the ceiling. The jagged told that the damage was unintentional and more likely caused by conflict than by renovation. Broken pieces of plastic covered the floor. It looked like an entire toy chest had been exposed and crushed when the ceiling collapsed. Even a ratted doll missing an eye lay underneath the rubble like a victim of an attack.

"This must have been some child's room," I uttered.

Suddenly someone stood from behind a section of the wall and spoke. "This house was destroyed in the great war one thousand years ago. It was kept this way on purpose as a reminder of what the war wrought."

I was hesitant about approaching the creepy guy hiding in the corner of the dilapidated child's room. He looked to be just a couple inches taller and about fifty pounds heavier than I. There was also a harsh odor coming from his direction. He wore a plain, black t-shirt and blue jeans, which offered me absolutely no clue as to what kind of person he was. It seemed smarter to keep him talking until I could figure out if I needed to run.

"What war is that?"

He just narrowed his eyes at me. "Why are you here? You know this building is off limits."

"I didn't know that, actually. I'm new in town."

"New?" His expression softened instantly. "You're just visiting?"

"Who would want to live in the swamp? No offense to the people who live here."

"How do you know I don't?"

"Because you didn't recognize me as an outsider. Stannum Village is so small that everyone knows with a single glance that I'm new here. Besides, you reek of bug spray. The villagers use crushed berries to keep the yanma away."

A little half-smile crept across the guy's face. "You're pretty bright. What's your name?"

"I'm Gus. Who are you?"

"My name is Drew. This place is off-limits, so I feel the need to repeat my first question: Why are you here, Gus?"

"It's just where I ended up during a massive game of Hide-N-Seek. You've got to admit, this place looks pretty appealing to a kid who hasn't been here long enough to know it's off limits."

Drew furrowed his brow, either struck with a sudden urge to use the bathroom or confused by what I said. "There's a sign out front that says 'Keep Out.'"

"I missed that. Must have been hidden in the bushes or something."

"It's right there on the fence surrounding the house. Plain as day. You had to walk right past it to get through the gate that leads in here."

"We could argue about this all day—"

As a quick aside, he commented, "What arguing?" But I ignored it and finished my sentence.

"—but more important is this: Why are you here if this place is off-limits?"

Drew reached inside his jeans pocket and produced a small, paper document and a piece of hard plastic that looked like an ID card of some sort. "I'm a student at the University of Snowpoint, but I'm originally from Castelia City in the Unova region. I have research credentials that allow me to be here."

The documents appeared legitimate as far as I could tell. The photo on his ID card matched his face, though it may have been taken five years earlier when he was covered in zits. "What are you studying?"

"Well, I came to Perioble as an aide to study the biology of pokémon, particularly in how they relate to humans. But recently I took a furlough to study the dramatic climate change in the region."

"The climate is changing here?" Why did that sound familiar?

But Drew stopped and narrowed his stare at me. "I don't want you to misconstrue my propensity for discussion as acceptance of your trespassing in this building…"

"Of course not," I agreed. "It's just your passion taking over as you discuss your work with an eager, young listener."

The slightest signs of a grin pulled at the corners of Drew's mouth. He may have been an academic, but he was a little bit of a sucker for someone who wanted to hear his story.

"You may not have noticed, but the temperatures have been shifting around the region. First I went to Bohrium City, where the Elite Four live. It has always been a peaceful atoll, but they've had a plethora of earthquakes lately. The air pressure has gotten so intense in Aurum City that the mines there have started producing gold like never before. There's so much available now the streets are literally paved with it! The ice-capped Palladium Mountains where Argentum City is famous for its ski slopes was also known for simultaneously having a tropical environment. That's actually where I'm heading next."

Of all possible responses, including telling Drew about Salamorder and the farce that is Argentum's weird climate, I instead had to ask, "Do you mean 'literally paved with gold' as in 'the rich guy in that Geico commercial' or as in misuse of the word 'literally'?"

He offered as a reply, "Think of an old man's teeth."

My eyes popped open. "That's a lot of gold."

"Yes, it is," said Drew with a chuckle.

"So, I noticed you didn't mention Stannum in your little abstract there. If you're studying climate change, what brings you to a ruined old house in the middle of Yanma Central?"

Suddenly his cheeks flushed a little and he took a step back. "It's a weird story. Unfortunately, this stop is more of a field trip than a scientific journey."

"What do you mean? Are you here because of a folk tale or something?"

He was slow to respond. Either he didn't know what I meant, or I was exactly right. Finally he shrugged with one shoulder. "I mean, even as a scientist, I have to give consideration to all stories."

"What does this one say?"

"How much do you know about the Machine War and the Hydrogen Empire?"

I'd only heard about the Machine War a few times, but it was impossible to forget where. I immediately slipped my hand in my satchel and pulled out my pokédex. After a few seconds, I spun through the lists to find the entries for both Clendine and Salamorder.

_367-Clendine_

_This pokémon's power is so great it created 1,000 new species of sea life 1,000 years ago during the Machine War. It was sealed away with one of the earliest known pokéballs._

_370-Salamorder_

_It is believed that this pokémon is where humans first obtained fire. After its flames destroyed entire cities during the Machine War, its fires purified the region's soil and enriched it with nutrients to promote regrowth._

And the Hydrogen Empire? That definitely sounded familiar. The Elder had said something about it when he was making excuses for kicking me out of Natrium.

"_A thousand years ago, the legendary pokémon responsible for the growth and evolution of life in this region broke into war. In time, peace was achieved when they were captured by the Hydrogen Emperor and hidden throughout the region. Ever since then, this region has done pretty well, and we've been generally free of natural disasters and the pokémon are generally peaceful. As long as Clendine is gone, our ecosystem will change, and that means pokémon behavior will change. Many species will leave while others move in. And some species will simply go extinct."_

And then Brooke! When she told me her thoughts about Team Omega:

"_I don't trust them. You want to know why I took Gnomoder with me?" She leaned in real close and dropped the volume of her voice to a silent whisper. "I think they're rebuilding the Hydrogen Empire. Gus, promise me you'll be careful."_

I looked silently back at Drew, though my face probably didn't hide my confusion as well as I would have liked. "They had something to do with the legendary pokémon."

"They had _everything_ to do with them," Drew corrected me emphatically. I could tell from the look on his face that my ignorance was already exposed. But instead of dwelling on his disappointment, he began to explain to me what he knew.

"They were called Creator Pokémon—eight of them, each responsible for bringing life to the region in some way. Depending on where you hear the story, those pokémon were even responsible for the creation of humans. Not everyone believes that, though, and some people will outright object to the idea."

"It sounds like you've already met some of those people."

"So have you. They live here in Stannum."

"Does that have some connection to the people here fearing pokémon?"

"Not that. But the legend does. You see, the Creator Pokémon, despite being so powerful, also fought with one another all the time. Sometimes it was over territorial disputes, or maybe they were afraid of each other a little bit. Ultimately, they're just animals without the cognitive capacity for the higher reasoning we attribute to humans. But when powerful creatures war with one another, the surrounding environment suffers. Thousands of people died through countless battles that destroyed entire communities. That's what spurred the rise of the Hydrogen Empire, an army of people dedicated to ending the battles.

"The Hydrogen Emperor finally decided the only way to protect the people against the warring Creators was to build a coalition of lesser pokémon to combat them. At first he tried behavioral modification, which brought huge returns right from the start. The very first time he witnessed a confrontation between two of the Creator Pokémon, he and his pyragon fought back, leading to the first-ever zero-casualty Creator battle."

I had to stop for a second. "Wait! There are normal pokémon able to fight back against the legendary pokémon?"

"According to the legend, the Hydrogen Emperor had a special pyragon—the only one ever known to fight back one-on-one. But shortly after the people saw what he was able to do with the help of one pokémon companion, his soldiers agreed to engage in the same kind of training. People subordinated pokémon from all over the region, forming ranks based on the specialties of their pokémon and their own training. The efforts made tremendous progress: Whenever the Creator Pokémon battled, Hydrogen soldiers would be there to protect the people and quell the fighting. Temporarily, at least.

"But the wars continued. Soldiers and their pokémon alike died trying to confront the Creator Pokémon. There simply weren't enough soldiers to mount a decent offensive strike. It was tough enough just playing defense. That's what led engineers to begin working for the Hydrogen Empire on ways to tame wild pokémon more quickly."

"Pokéballs."

Drew nodded. "Crude, early versions of them, but yes. That one little device dramatically increased the size of the army's ranks. A single soldier could suddenly build a squad of multiple pokémon and train them within mere weeks whereas sufficient training through trust alone could take months or years. Of course some behaviorists will claim the reason the Hydrogen Emperor's pokémon were so strong was that his bonds were based on trust, making them stronger than any pokéball-trained pokémon could be, but that's a debate for another profession."

I know it was a bad time to interrupt, but I couldn't help noticing something odd about Drew's behavior. "You're a bit of a storyteller for a science student."

"Science is a methodology, not a writing style. Besides, historical accounts tend to become romanticized over time. It makes for more engaging stories."

"Don't you worry about sacrificing fact for the story?"

Drew shrugged slightly. I hadn't expected any nonchalance from a scientist. "I take stories as they are. I present them as they are. I make no assertions to what is fact and what is fiction unless I can objectively observe it. If you want something more solid, speak with a historian. You could probably find plenty of them at the Museum of Social History in Hydrargyrum City." He looked back around the room. "Anyway, this house is purported to have been the Hydrogen Emperor's childhood home. It was preserved as a way of honoring his achievements."

"And that's why it's off-limits," I noted. The place did have that Lucite feel to it, like the floors and walls might have been coated with a little plastic in order to preserve the appearance and prevent further decay. Even the feel of the door frame as I knocked on it suggested a more solid wall than just bricks and mortar.

Drew offered me a handshake. "Thanks for listening, too. It's fun to relay the stories I've heard to someone who will actually listen." The handshake was also a subtle way of suggesting it was time for me to leave.

"Well, I should probably leave you to your work before I get you in any trouble with me." He probably assumed I was just talking about the trespassing. He didn't even realize I was carrying pokémon in open violation of the village's strict policy. There was no doubt Drew—another outsider—would be in big trouble if I were to get caught and anyone knew we were associated.

But as soon as I exited the child's room and hit the main room of the house again, my brain connected two seemingly unlikely points. It was a total longshot—like that time in Natrium when Michelle challenged me to throw a tennis ball all the way up to the waterfall in exchange for a kiss. But two weeks of shoulder pain was worth the reward, and so was this if I was right.

Because I came up with another reason to declare this house off-limits.

* * *

><p><em>Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it, and may the rest of you enjoy time doing what you love! This chapter is another without much action, but I hope the story satisfies you a little. There will be more to come in the region's history, but more importantly, the next chapter will bring a lot more action, including a plot twist I doubt if many of you see coming!<em>

_Thanks go to **BNVshark** for contributing Drew to the story._

_**Trivia:** The reference to pokéballs being a "forbidden fruit" is a pun. Get it? They're forbidden in Stannum Village and early versions were made from apricorns? I know puns are the lowest form of wit, but I love them._


	36. Facade

Façade

Maybe the reasons were different. The waterfall was forbidden because it was dangerous. The mountains were forbidden because it was mining territory. The volcano was really hot. This house was forbidden because it was sentimental. But there was something that connected the other two to one another, and I'd bet my pokéballs this house was the same somehow. I just needed to find the entrance.

"What are you doing?" Drew caught me knocking around on the walls and kicking hard on the floors. He appeared to be much more upset than he was a moment ago when I left him to his research. Maybe he was a little peeved to find me imposing on the ground he just explained to me was sacred to the people of Stannum Village. Or maybe he had a wedgie and was taking it out on me.

"Um… You don't happen to know if there are any secret passages in this place, do you?"

"What in the world would possess you to believe there are secret passages here?"

I paused. "Your tone sounds rhetorical. You don't really expect me to answer that question, do you?"

"I expect you to respect the wishes of the villagers and leave these premises quietly and without trying to destroy anything."

"I'm not trying to destroy anything. I'm trying to find the underground temple I feel pretty certain is buried here. Why else would they choose this specific house to preserve and forbid access?"

Maybe I sounded like a rambling lunatic because Drew's voice reeked of exasperation. "Because the Hydrogen Emperor was born here!"

"Exactly why they would hide it here! He's the one who rose up against the legendary pokémon, right? What better place to seal away one of them than in his very own home!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The Creation Pokémon! The ones in that story you were telling me. They're real, and they've been sealed away in temples all over the region. Each one so far has been pretty well hidden, often by rules about the area being forbidden. No one back home knew exactly why—at least not the real reason—but we all knew we weren't supposed to go near the waterfall. That's where Clendine was hidden in the Undine Temple." I kept checking the floor the whole time I spoke. There had to be some kind of inconsistency to mark the passage to another hidden temple. A panel in the wall or a trap door? Maybe if I moved a book on the bookcase. Every bookcase was already on the floor in splinters, though. Maybe just twist a candle on the wall?

"You mean Clendine the Mermaid Pokémon." He probably intended that as a question but it sounded more of a statement. "You're saying you actually saw that legendary pokémon?"

"Saw it? I _battled_ it!" Let him stew on that one for a while. Granted it wasn't my finest moment in my short career as a trainer. Clendine pretty much kicked the butts of my pokémon and me in one fell swoop without even breaking a sweat.

"Hello!" While searching the floor, I spotted a knot in the wood that was pitch-black. Maybe not unusual until you compare it with the other knots in the floor, all of which looked whiter—the color of the house's foundation. Whatever the trigger was, _this_ knot was the location of the secret tunnel.

"Go with me here. If you were going to build a hidden temple underneath your house, what kind of trigger would you use to hide it? Actually, I want to know where you would put the trigger if you were the Hydrogen Emperor and you were trying to build a hidden temple under your house."

It's possible I baffled Drew a little bit with all that. He furrowed his brow and ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know, Gus. Why are you so sure there's even a tunnel down there?"

"I can see it right here." To emphasize my point, I stuck my finger through the tiny space in the knot. Drew was a genius! I could feel a release switch down there! One little twitch of the knuckle was all it took to pop three connected planks from the floor and reveal a tiny chute with metal rungs running down the side. The black hole in the floor smelled stale and dusty, and the air actually tasted a lot like a book cover. My throat tickled until I loosed one of those noises right between a cough and a sneeze. To Drew, I asked, "You want to go first?"

Drew was flabbergasted by the sight before him. The taste of the air was probably the only thing keeping his jaw from dropping. "I had no idea this was here. Where does it go?"

"Your research into this area didn't turn up any stories about legendary pokémon?"

"No. This is new."

"Welp! Best way to see what's what is to go down there!" I swung over the planks and grabbed onto the rungs of the tunnel. Despite my eagerness to see find out what ancient puzzles were hidden beneath the village, I clung tightly to the wall. I descended very slowly, extra careful to find the next rung before I lowered myself at all.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Drew called to me.

Not even a little bit. "Of course it is! I just, uh…" I looked down into the absolute darkness that looked like it was swallowing my feet. The longer I stared, the more alive the shadows seemed to be. Every nightmare I ever had about monsters in the dark started to come back to me. "How far down do you think this goes?" It was a bad time to ask questions because turning to look into the darkness was just enough for me to lose my grip.

Time seemed to freeze the second I stopped touching the wall. Nothing touched my body except the stale air, smothering me and thrusting me forward toward the inevitable crash at the bottom of the black abyss. It was impossible to tell exactly how far I fell. And I don't actually remember reaching into my satchel for a pokéball, but I do remember the hum of the electromagnetic energy forming into one of my allies well below me. Of course, my heart may have stopped briefly when I realized there was a twenty-five percent chance of being a pancake on Elly's steel backside. It would be no different from hitting the ground directly.

I hit the ground with a distinct slurping sound as I hit something squishy. It felt like a liquid that changed shapes around me and just about swallowed me up. I emerged from the squishy goop and gasped for air—stale, bitter air, but nourishing nonetheless.

"Thanks for catching me, Siggy." His sudsy arm reached up and patted me on the head. "I'm sorry I hit you so hard when I fell." He responded with sputtering noises and the sounds of popping bubbles. That sounded like an accepted apology. Or he was drowning. But I assume he was happy.

"Scar blew away!" Drew's voice sounded so far from me. And like he was speaking another language.

"What happened to your scar?"

"What?" There was a brief pause as Drew tried to process my question. He decided to ignore it. "Never mind. I guess you _are_ okay."

"I can't see anything. At all, I mean. There's not even a light from the tunnel." I began feeling around and found the wall very close. And one ill-timed reach caused me to knock my forehead on the lowest rungs of the ladder. So there was a way back up, at least. "Make sure you take it slow and don't look down. That's how I lost my grip."

"I'm not coming down there," he shouted back to me. "I'm going to alert the village councilors about this and get a team together. Can you climb back up?"

"Um… I can't really tell. There's no light down here."

"Well, just stay put and you won't get hurt. I promise to be back very soon with some help. Will you be okay until then?"

You mean all by myself with my pokémon in a forgotten underground temple located within a village that forbids the existence of pokémon? "I'll be okay. Just hurry back." Or don't. I planned to wander the temple, anyway. Now that Drew was completely out of sight, I could pull Siggy back into his pokéball and call out Reggie instead.

The instant my immolion hit the floor, his flames gave me light. His body was sleek and warm as it had always been, but since his evolution, he weighed an extra two hundred pounds, and now he was twice as tall as I was, measuring from his back feet to his forehead. His mane trimmed into a thin, thick line from his forehead between his ears and down to his shoulders, but that was all. It didn't wrap around his head and neck the way a luxray's mane does. The thick fur on his tail lit brightly like fire, but without dancing and flickering through the air—maybe more like a light bulb. The muscles in his body rippled like liquid steel and were especially pronounced in the soft light of his tail.

It also hadn't been obvious how chilly it was so deep underground until I felt Reggie's warmth. Fire-types usually give off a lot of natural body heat. It felt good to keep him close. Unfortunately, even with his light, I couldn't see much farther than a few steps in front of or behind me.

"What do you think, Reg?" In reply, my immolion yawned, his tongue tossing a few bright embers into the air. "Oh, sure. You try to act all calm and cool about it." He turned to look at me with those big, wide eyes and that curious head tilt that suggested he thought it was a good time to feed him. I tossed him a piece of dried meat and watched him snatch it from the air and consume it in a single gulp. "Let's go."

In only six steps, the cement tunnel disappeared and turned into a rocky cave. The cave was turning out to be a common theme among these temples. This one wasn't as hot as where the Fire Temple had been, nor was it as cold as that cave was after Salamorder returned to its pokéball. The temperature was somewhere in between. It was actually fairly comfortable. My light jacket and shorts were a perfect combination to keep me feeling just fine.

So why did I have goose bumps all over my body?

The cave opened into a wide area. All of Reggie's light just seemed to vanish. You know how they say other sense compensate when you lose your vision? Well, my sense of touch went crazy, standing the hair on my neck and arms on end and hinting that an ursaring or some other cave-dwelling creature was about to bare down on me. The Elder always said I had an overactive imagination. This was a terrible situation for it.

"You don't smell anything living, do you?" Reggie was no bloodhound, but I suspected he'd know if we were in danger. Still unfortunate that he wouldn't tell me if we were. "Maybe I need to catch a sensory-type pokémon if I'm going to continue all this cave-diving.

"Actually…" Sigilyph was a psychic-type. Maybe that would be good enough! And as difficult as it could be to keep an eye on two pokémon at once, Sigilyph never listened to me anyway. But as long as he was helpful! I popped open his pokéball and immediately lost sight of my flying pokémon in the darkness of the cave.

"Sigilyph? Where'd you go?" Even though I couldn't see him, I could still almost feel his presence. He didn't flap his wings when he moved, but rather he floated as if carrying himself through telekinesis. Never was that eerier than in total darkness. "Can you tell if there's anything or anyone nearby?" Slowly, Sigilyph floated close enough to Reggie's flame for me to see his three, creepy eyes staring at me. Somehow I got the impression that he was _trying_ to be creepy, and that there was little to be worried about in this darkness.

Whenever lost in a maze, find a wall and follow it. Eventually you'll end up at the exit, unless you're chased by an exploding golem. I learned that at the Mineral Gym. But this place wasn't the same. There were no walls to follow. Not twelve steps out of the tunnel I couldn't even find the walls that brought me here. And I still couldn't see a thing!

"I'm not at all nervous about this. Are you, Reggie?" He just kept walking like he hadn't a care in the world. "Good. 'Cause there's nothing to be nervous about. Definitely nothing at all. But if you felt like finding some kind of wall, I wouldn't complain about it." Too bad Reggie was more likely to follow my lead than to point the way for me. If only I could see a little better. Reggie was a fire-type and had produced massive amounts of fire in battle, but that wasn't the type of fire I needed here. It wasn't safe. What if he ended up blasting a group of wild pokémon, or even another person wandering the cave? If he turned the flames upward, maybe they'd eat through the ceiling—or maybe the ceiling was really low and the flames would just curve back down at us. What if we just happen to end up in a narrow dead end and all that fire consumes the oxygen, suffocating me?

"Up is best, maybe," I decided. I reached up to search for a ceiling, but I couldn't feel one. I stretched, wondering if my fingertips would just barely scrape it. A little hop, but still nothing. A slightly bigger hop this time, but my outstretched fingers still felt no ceiling. This time, I gave it a full squat and leap. My fingers still found nothing above me, but at least no one could see the way my legs buckled when I hit the floor. My butt ended up absorbing most of the collision with the cave floor. Fortunately I had a bit of a cushion there.

"Good thing I avoided doing squats all these years," I told Reggie as I rubbed my sore spot. The important point was that I couldn't feel anything above me. It seemed like I was out in the open. "Alright, Reg. I want you to try to light the cave up just a little bit, okay? I don't want a full Flamethrower. Low power. Just look straight up and give me an Ember attack." He at least recognized some of those words because he looked straight up and blasted a pillar of fire from his mouth. I panicked and covered my head—you know, because my arms can protect me from _fire!_—but then I took the time to notice that he controlled the fire just like I asked. He spewed only a small stream that lingered gently in the air before dissipating a few meters overhead.

Unfortunately, the fire didn't show me much. The darkness seemed to swallow the light immediately. But it didn't absorb all sound.

"I didn't expect you to find this place." I knew that voice.

"Elliott?"

"Go straight ahead. Keep following the sound of my voice." Her voice got a little loud with each step. If the volume didn't change, I corrected my course to find her. "It's real easy to get turned around in here. I must have walked twenty laps around this empty space before I finally found where to go."

"At least you got your cardio in for the day. Why are you here?"

"Seriously, you're going to ask a stupid question like that? I'm here for the exact same reason you are. We both know there's no better place to hide a legendary pokémon than in a village that forbids the use or ownership of pokémon. Who here would disturb it?" I actually hadn't thought of it like that, but she made a good point.

"Do you just want it to make money again?"

"Not this time," said Elliott. "I'm getting back to my roots in pokémon battling. This time, it's for the same old reasons as normal: A legendary pokémon would help me grow stronger, and this is a really good training opportunity for my pokémon. My jowrie you battled already is still young, but Slash should be ready to take on anything." No one could say she was lacking in confidence. For a moment, I worried what she would do to me and my pokémon if I tried to capture this legendary creature for myself.

Or maybe I should let her try to take down whatever's in there first. It's a legendary pokémon! What chance did she have of success? But if she managed to wear it down even a little bit, that might make it easier for me.

No, that's a stupid idea. Reggie and Siggy weren't up for that. Drew said all the Creation Pokémon fought routinely, which suggests they're all about equal strength. Salamorder was too much for Blade, Lauren, and me together, plus Elliott's two henchmen. If we tried to fight another legendary pokémon with anything less than our teamwork, we were in for a big loss.

Now that I resolved that mental dilemma, I could ask a more important question: "Have you been down here the whole time?"

"What whole time? You mean since I saw you at the stadium?"

"Yeah. How did you know this place was here?"

"I wasn't wasting my life as the mayor of Argentum City. That's what I was doing to make money and spend a little while in the lap of luxury, but a lot of that money went into researching the locations of the eight legendary pokémon of this region. There are ten cultures in the region that date back almost a thousand years, and three of those were already established long before then. Eight of the towns have a hidden temple in them."

"How do you know there's only one temple per town?"

Elliot shook her head. "I don't have hard evidence that there's only one legendary pokémon per town, but it makes the most sense. After all, the stories tell that each pokémon had the power to destroy a city and that they constantly fought one another. I think after they were sealed, different cultures settled around each of them in order to have a guardian god in case another town attacked. But a thousand years later, just about everyone has forgotten they're there. The best place to start looking is anywhere that has forbidden or limited access."

"Wow. That's almost exactly how I figured it out."

Voice laden with sarcasm, she said, "We're two peas in a pod."

Noting her apparent annoyance, I asked, "So… Why are we just standing here?"

"I'm not sure how to proceed."

"What do you mean?"

"I see your fire pokémon evolved since we last met. That's good. Have him spread some flames around. Unless you have a pokémon that knows Flash."

"Nope. Reggie? Look up and give us another Ember attack."

"No," said Elliott. "Look straight ahead and give it all you've got."

Reggie listened to my command as soon as I gave it. He released a small stream over his head and provided us with a little light. It wasn't enough light to make anything in front of us visible. "Okay, Reg." Pointing, I said, "Give me a full Flamethrower attack that way." This time, Reggie blasted a powerful cloud of fire and smoke straight ahead. The heat was enough to melt a rock, and the light was bright enough for me to see every strand of hair on Elliott's head.

But everything in front of us was just black. The light of the fire went nowhere.

"That's not the worst part." Elliott kicked a rock forward. It slid audibly forward for a moment before the distinct sound disappeared. Pretty obviously, the rock fell over the side of some kind of ledge. "It's like that all the way across."

"What? You mean we're standing in front of an abyss?"

"Yeah. I guess I'm lucky you came along with that Sigilyph right there. In order to fly across this abyss, we need a pokémon that can use telekinesis to carry us. My sialiary can't fly in this stupid cave. There's not a single thermal in here, and carrying me would wear her out instantly."

Her solution was logical, but it didn't make sense to me. "If the abyss was established by people who hated and feared pokémon but wanted to keep the legendary one close in case they were ever attacked, then why could it only be crossed by a certain kind of pokémon?"

"Who knows? People suck at planning things out in advance."

"Maybe. Reggie? Give me another Flamethrower." He spewed a stream of fire into the abyss where it was promptly swallowed up by the darkness. "Do it again. Aim a little lower this time." Reggie threw another billowing flame before us. Again, the darkness consumed the light without revealing much, but for a fraction of a second, I thought I saw the flicker of a shadow.

Elliott frowned at me. "What are you doing? Nothing's changed. You're just wasting oxygen by lighting all that fire."

"One more time, Reggie. Aim straight for the pit this time."

"Why are you shooting for the pit? What do you see?"

Reggie answered that question for her. When he blew the fire straight into the ground, it didn't go straight down like the rock did. It turned and blew forward—parting the shadows just a bit as if he had turned a fan on in a dark fog.

Elliott was awestruck. "Well I'll be. There _is_ a floor. It's hidden by the extreme darkness down here. How long can he keep that up? We don't want to make a misstep because of the mist."

"If he scales back to an Ember attack, Reggie can probably go for a while." I looked to my immolion and offered him a Leppa berry from the random pokémon foods I brought from Argentum City. "Walk softly, but point your Ember attack straight at the ground and lead us across the pit, okay?" Whether it was his keen senses or just his memory of what he saw when his fire coated the ground, Reggie tapped the ground in front of him very lightly as he stepped into the pit. He breathed a deep breath and began spewing a slow, steady stream of fire a few centimeters in front of his paws. As long as the fire bent along the ground, Reggie continued to follow it. But if the fire continued and fell off into the abyss, Reggie stopped abruptly and changed direction.

"We've been walking for a long time," Elliott commented at one point. She tucked her scrafty back into its pokéball and tried to stay close to me while Sigilyph hovered nearby. It would have been easy to lose one another considering how quickly the darkness swallowed all light. That's why we had little choice but to follow Reggie along the long and winding path. It definitely felt like we walked a half mile back and forth for the ultimate reward of only twenty meters from where we started, but eventually we reached solid ground again. The ground began reflecting Reggie's light—proof that we had finished with the shadowy mist.

"There's a relief," I admitted.

Elliott walked past me and pointed to a heavy, iron sconce in front of us. "Hey! Have Reggie light that torch." With a word from me, Reggie lit up the coals resting inside the sconce and filled the room with dancing light. It made visible a second sconce on the other side of the room, which he proceeded to set alight as well. With both torches lit, I saw the room hosted a massive door the size of an entire wall. It had the same locking mechanism as all the other doors I'd seen, complete with two hundred holes and fifty pegs available for placement.

"Holy cow," I uttered.

"I get the feeling this is what we're looking for," Elliott commented. She must have recognized it as the same type of door she saw in the Fire Temple. "But geez! Look at all these pegs! It'll take us forever to figure out which holes to use."

This wasn't my first hidden temple, and it wasn't my first giant door, either. I had kept my eyes peeled for something significant—some shape that would symbolize this temple. In the other cities, the symbol had been adapted over a thousand years as the logo for the pokémon gym. But Stannum Village didn't have one. They hated pokémon. There was one thing they did love, though.

"The stadium." I mentally recalled the circular logo I saw on the scoreboard. If I really focused, that logo resembled the shape of the platform we traversed to cross the pit of darkness. That must have been the answer! I grabbed pegs and began placing them. It helped to think of the symbol as concentric circles—two pegs on the innermost circle, eight pegs circling the next layer, eighteen pegs each in the next two, and then four pegs outside all others. When I set the last peg, I heard the distinct sound of metal shifting. The door was unlocked!

Aghast, Elliott asked, "How did you do that?"

"Same way as you, I think."

"You did not just spend months down here on trial-and-error. You figured out the key."

"The answer was right there." I pointed back into the pit, eliciting a baffled look from Elliott.

"Whatever. Thanks for cutting my time down here dramatically. Let's go find out what kind of pokémon is hidden in here." She pressed into the door, but she quickly stopped. Her expression was like she had forgotten how stuck those doors could get after a thousand years of disuse. "Slash, use Focus Punch." That scrafty of hers hobbled in front of the door and closed his eyes for a moment. Slowly, his arms drifted to his side. He was completely silent and still until suddenly his arm burst forward with explosive force and pushed the door slightly off the frame. I was tempted to make a comment about a championship pokémon doing so little, but I remembered how heavy those doors were.

"Thanks for the help, children." It was Ray's voice from the Perioble Marshals service. He stepped into the light, making his white cowboy hat shine brighter than any other article of clothing down there. His brown duster didn't reflect the light as well.

Suddenly it occurred to me that people keep sneaking up on me. That was something I needed to work on.

"You again!" Understandably, Elliott became tense. She braced herself for a fight. "Why would you let me go and then chase me down here?"

Marshal Ray smirked. "Because you came down here."

I realized right at that moment what Ray really wanted. "You were never really after Elliott because of her crimes, were you? You just knew she could find Salamorder. And now you want another legendary pokémon."

"You're actually more perceptive than I expected you to be, Gus," Ray admitted to me. "I guess there's a little something behind that goofy kid act of yours. The Marshals service is collecting legendary pokémon on behalf of the Elite Four. I chose to follow the two of you because each of you has a real knack for locating them. We knew the Shade Temple was here somewhere, but no one thought to look underneath the Hydrogen Emperor's childhood home. You're doing your civic duty once again if you stand aside and allow me to claim Tempereye."

This was a terrible feeling. Part of me knew the best place for the legendary pokémon to be was in the hands of the Elite Four. They protected the region and enforced the laws of society. When there were people like that Burton guy out there taking legendary pokémon for personal use, a central law enforcement division was necessary to keep the ecosystem from getting out of hand.

But this was the second time! I already gave up one legendary pokémon to the Marshals. Wasn't that enough? I didn't know anything about Tempereye, but wasn't it about time I got to keep one of the Creation Pokémon? Even Brooke had one!

"I know what you're both thinking," Ray said. He was using that soft-spoken, condescending voice the Marshals liked to use anytime they're talking to someone who's about to do something stupid. "I can see it in my Miracle Eye, or whatever that drivel is gypsies claim to give them future sight. It will be much less painful for everyone if you just stand down peaceably and let me take whatever's in there back to Bohrium Tower with me."

Elliott wasn't interested. "What are you gonna do? You think shooting Slash with a tranquilizer will work twice? He's already seen your movements now, and he's quite quick. You'll never be able to hit him."

"I suspect that's the truth," said Ray with a nod. "But I will also warn you that being a part of the Marshals service and training myself with a firearm doesn't mean I can't hold my own in a battle."

That comment tickled Elliott. "A pokémon battle? You're nuts! Slash here was on my team when I took on the Unova Elite Four! They are hardly pushovers, and you think some random Marshal can take him on?"

When he nodded, his hat hid his eyes from view. "I do."

"You're welcome to try it, then. What do you think, Slash?" She finally turned to look at her scrafty, who seemed agitated. He was fidgety and constantly shifting his gait as he began pacing short circles. Something was bugging him.

Curious of the answer and feeling a little left out, I asked, "How did you sneak pokémon past the guards?"

"The same way Charlotte Ellie did. All it took was a little distraction."

"A distraction? Like what?"

The Marshal nodded toward Elliott. "You remember those henchmen she had? The ones too dumb to boil water without a recipe? I'm sure if you check the jail cell in town, you'll find two of those poor saps counting the days and banging their drink cups between the bars."

The look on Elliott's face was almost like a confession. "You just threw away two of your friends like that?"

"Employees," she clarified. "And they'll be out soon enough with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. So you're telling me there's someone else in jail with them so that you could sneak in?"

"That's neither here nor there. What's important is this: This is your last warning to stand down. What's it gonna be?" His gaze was intense. That would be enough to make me fold any hand in Poker I had. If I had ever seen him with a pokémon, I would have been terrified of that look. But as it was, I just thought he was bluffing.

Elliott daftly challenged him. "Bring it."

"Fine. Psychic!"

Who was he talking to? Did he have a pokémon still hidden in the shadows of the room?

Suddenly Slash flew across the room and slammed into the wall. The cave was so old and sturdy compared with the relative mass of a scrafty that the poor pokémon felt the full brunt of the collision. I followed the trail of psychic energy in the air to its source…

"Sigilyph?!"

Marshal Ray began to chuckle. "His name is Chakana."

* * *

><p><em>Thanks go to <strong>BNVshark<strong> and **Kurono-Angel** for adding Drew and Elliott, respectively, to this story._

_I apologize for the delay in updating. Life got a lot busier recently, and now I'm about to work on a really big project, so I won't be as good about regular updates as I once was. But do not doubt that I am still committed to this story I have to tell. It may take time between them, but there will be steady updates. Next time, Gus has a decision to make: Does he trust the man with the badge who works for the Elite Four, or does he fight back and claim the legendary Tempereye as his own? At least now he knows why his strongest pokémon won't listen to his commands!_


	37. Feint

Feint

Elliott was not amused by the way Sigilyph blasted her scrafty across the cave like that. Nor did she let it keep her down. "Slash! Use Head Smash!" Her pokémon was a little dazed from his collision with the wall, but his body was firm and tough. His resilience as he hopped to his feet and prepared an attack confirmed his training history. A psychic attack hurt him, but he'd suffered such attacks many times before. He planted his feet just before launching himself at high speed through the air, head-first.

"Protect." Marshal Ray spoke softly, but a bright glow surrounding Sigilyph offered an impenetrable barrier for Slash's head to slam into. It looked like an awful collision that may have had serious repercussions for the scrafty. "Too bad."

"How did your psychic attack strike?" Elliott demanded. "Dark-type pokémon have a natural immunity to psychic assaults."

"But Miracle Eye can offer my pokémon the insight to attack the dark energy in a focused blast."

Baffled by the admittedly true statement, Elliot replied, "Yeah, but when did you give that command?" Ray offered her a smirk and an evasive comment that didn't directly answer her question, but I remembered his command. I just didn't realize that's what it was at the time.

"_I can see it in my Miracle Eye, or whatever that drivel is gypsies claim to give them future sight. It will be much less painful for everyone if you just stand down peaceably and let me take whatever's in there back to Bohrium Tower with me."_

Despite her frustration, Elliott wasn't beaten yet. "It doesn't matter. The battle's not over yet!"

"Unfortunately, young lady, the battle was over two turns ago." His phrase confused me. Who referred to a battle by _turns_? Did he think one pokémon just sits there and waits for the other to attack? But in light of Sigilyph's use of Miracle Eye so his psychic attacks would land, certain buzz words told me what was about to happen.

And it did. Slash suddenly flailed the same as if he suffered an electrical shock and passed out on the cave floor. Elliott looked absolutely horrorstruck. Her strongest pokémon was just felled by one that—oddly enough—had been in my possession for two months!

"Don't take it too hard," Marshal Ray told her. "Against Chakana, your fighting types don't stand a chance."

"Chakana?" I repeated. The name seemed so out-of-place for identifying my sigilyph. Well… Ray's sigilyph. "You mean you planted one of your pokémon on me? All the way back in the desert?"

"You're an idiot," Elliott snapped at me. "This guy has been following you for as long as I've known you. That was how!"

"She's right," the Marshal said with a nod. "You think it was coincidence my finding you in Cuprum? Or that I just happened to show up when all the fighting was done at the Fire Temple, or waiting for you to unlock that door for me just now?" He wagged a finger in front of me as if scolding a child. "Little advice, Gus. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times is enemy action. The easiest way to keep an eye on you was with a psychic pokémon that could contact me every time you opened the pokéball."

My stomach felt tight, and my heart sank. I had never realized how physically sick betrayal could make me feel. "So you just threw away my other pokéballs?"

Marshal Ray threw his head back and began to laugh heartily. "What an odd thing to focus on!" With a pleasant grin on his face, he admitted, "I had to use up one of them to convince you that you captured him. It would be suspicious for you to have an extra pokéball containing a pokémon you've never seen before. I threw the rest of them out to sell the point: Chakana is far more powerful than your other pokémon, as you've already noticed. There's no way a trainer of your level could capture him with a single pokéball."

"But the plan hinges on my keeping Sigilyph outside of the pokéball." Suddenly it clicked. "That's why you gave me such a powerful pokémon. You knew I could never resist battling with him whenever I started to get in over my head, like I did against Mina."

"That's right. And your skill at identifying the strongest pokémon on your team made it that much easier for me to follow you. You've got the mark of a good trainer in you. Don't be stupid now."

Elliott's words rang in my head at that moment, prompting me to say, "Sorry, Marshal. But being stupid is apparently my thing. Besides…" I subtly slipped my hand inside my satchel. "Sigilyph isn't your pokémon anymore!" I immediately and triumphantly thrust into the air the pokéball which had housed Sigilyph for many weeks, but before it ever even opened, an invisible force knocked it out of my hand and sent it rolling away in the darkness. My hand began bleeding profusely.

"Nice try," said Ray, "but predictable. You won't be able to avoid this battle by withdrawing Chakana into a pokéball."

"Let's find out!" Immediately, I dove into the dark where the pokéball rolled away from me. It never actually flew that far from my hand. I actually just dropped it because—I assume—Chakana's attack hit me directly instead of the pokéball. Maybe it was the way I held it that made him miss. Or maybe he was trying to hit me from the start. That thought hit me pretty hard when I thought about all the stuff we'd been through together. If I could just recall him into the pokéball, Elliott and I would able to subdue the Marshal with our pokémon and escape! I found his pokéball resting beside one of the sconces giving light to the room.

And as soon as I looked at it, it shattered with a terrible crunch. I turned back to see Chakana floating high above me, probably reading my mind the instant I found the pokéball so her could destroy it. That plan was a bust in a big way.

"I'll assume you're willing to cooperate now," said the Marshal as he began walking toward the puzzle door.

"I'll assume something, too," I replied. Apparently my quip got his attention because he immediately stopped and moved his hand to his side. I looked up with a grin as I slipped my left hand back into my satchel. "I'll assume that you didn't get any other pokémon with you past Stannum's security. Why would you have to when I brought one in for you, right? That means you only have one pokémon to defend yourself."

The Marshal's face struggled to avoid a sneer. Even so, he still looked remarkably pleasant. "You're even smarter than you give yourself credit for."

It felt like time stopped as we stared down one another, waiting to see who would make the first move. But that eternity lasted only two seconds before I shouted, "Reggie! Flamethrower!" and whipped my hand out of the satchel.

"Cosmic Power," Ray said, barely as a whisper. I probably wouldn't have heard what he said if I hadn't predicted it. Of course, he didn't need to speak loudly for his psychic pokémon to hear his intentions.

Even more distressing for me was watching Chakana immediately roll up and complete the technique exactly as commanded. Any doubt in my mind that Chakana belonged to the marshal was quashed right then. All that time we spent together suddenly meant nothing.

But Chakana wasn't ready for Elly's mighty Dragon Tail to bat him out of the air like a tee ball.

"Two against one," Marshal Ray commented dryly.

"What's the matter? You afraid the fight is unbalanced?"

"In Chakana's favor. Your pokémon are still young and weak. Besides, can you even handle the mental strain of commanding two pokémon at once?"

I winked. "We'll soon find out." And then I regretted the wink. What was I thinking? He might take it the wrong way!

He wouldn't take it the wrong way when I beat him, though! But there was no doubt that Chakana was the most powerful of the pokémon I'd trained with. It would take some creativity to get one over on him with my other battlers. I just had to remind myself to be patient and think strategically. "Reggie, Flame Wheel! Elly, stay!"

My immolion burst into flame and leaped into the air. I'd seen him hunt for birds that way. Reggie's leg muscles were like liquid steel, giving him the strength to jump more than five meters straight up. He usually had to be patient and wait for his flying prey to drop low to the ground on its way to hunting its own food, but Chakana was already limited by the low ceiling of this Shade Temple. I couldn't believe I was going after him, but he was an easy target.

"Gravity," said Ray. Suddenly Chakana's natural telekinesis reversed, and everything dropped straight down, which is why my butt ended up on the cave floor. Reggie plummeted mid-pounce and ended up flat with his flame extinguished. It's exactly what I would have done with Sigilyph.

"Heavy Slam!" Elly wasn't terribly affected by the additional gravity. Her body got heavier, but the sheer muscle mass behind those steel scales propelled her through her attack with little lag from her usual speed. Heavy Slam was an attack that gained power with weight. Elly was already pretty heavy. With increased gravity, she was immovable!

"Reverse it."

I heard the words with just enough time to realize what Ray said before the weight of the gravity pulling me down disappeared completely. In fact, if anything, it felt like something began blowing my feet and pushing me back up. Somehow, Chakana managed to reverse the pull of gravity in the cave. He shot back into the air while Elly lost her footing and stumbled past without harming him at all.

Ray must have seen the incredulity on my face. "You never realized where Chakana's real power lies, did you?" Using his hands to imitate the pull of gravity tightening and weakening, he explained, "Many pokémon are their most powerful when their battle strategies focus on a single power. By manipulating the push and pull of the field, Chakana can strengthen the attacks that benefit him and weaken the attacks that might hurt him. For just a moment there, your dragmor was completely weightless."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I was so nervous of Sigilyph at first because I couldn't remember how he joined my group, so I could have spent a little more time learning about his power. But in my defense, it turns out I was right to be wary of him. And in your defense, there's little you can do against Dragon Rage!" A huge cloud of yellow and black flame filled the air between us, smothering Chakana before he could do anything to stop it.

"Quick thinking. Whirlwind?" The air between Chakana and Elly picked up immensely. It felt a lot like Chakana's control over Gravity—blowing telekinetic energy hard and fast straight at my dragmor. As heavy as she was, it was possible that Chakana was so powerful that Elly was about to go flying. She was a useful asset against a flying, psychic-type pokémon foe, but her bulk could be a liability flying through the air.

Ray abruptly changed his demeanor. In a flash, his expression went from smug to frightened, and he shouted, "Drop!" Chakana immediately fell from his current spot in the air just as a huge ball of black energy passed overhead and disappeared in the dark maze we came from. He turned his frightened expression toward the puzzle door. As he saw the presence in the doorway, Ray's expression fell into anger.

It was difficult for me to explain. The thing blended into the dark pretty well, so I could only assume its skin was jet-black, but was it really skin? Maybe some sort of fur? The light offered by the sconces was enough to see, but not enough to avoid skewing my perspective. Ignoring that for a moment, it had large wings. The thing was probably no bigger than a run-of-the-mill kite overall, and the wingspan seemed to make up half of its total body mass. The movement of its tail proved it was alive and not just some illusionary kite, though. The creature may have even had horns at the top of its head. But I'm skipping the most obvious, glaring feature of that particular monster: Where it should have a torso, it was just a giant eyeball. I mean huge! Iris glowing with a shade somewhere between dark purple and bright black, and a pitch-black pupil the size of my head.

I would have nightmares for the next month!

"You woke him?" Ray growled. He didn't load his voice with menace when he spoke, yet I still found myself afraid of his tone.

The target of his frustration was Elliott, standing right behind the flying eyeball with a black pokéball in her hand and a satisfied look on her face. "That's right. You think your secret agent sigilyph can win this fight?"

"I've trained Chakana for exactly that my whole life. Prepare another Future Sight, but be sure to use Miracle Eye. I have no doubt that's a dark-type." Chakana's three eyes shone brightly for just a moment and I felt a small surge of power emanate from him. Which attack was that? Or did he do both already?

Suddenly Tempereye, as Ray called it earlier, disappeared. I wondered if it ran away. One certain thing was Elliott had no control over it because she looked just as startled as Ray did by the creature's sudden invisibility. But Ray was still more tense, perhaps for the same reason that all the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up.

"Quickly, use Protect!" As he had done before, Chakana produced a thin but impenetrable aura around himself to defend against any attack. It was a smart tactic for facing an opponent of legendary proportions—one whose power was responsible for shaping the planet. Watch the attacks at first and figure out the patterns before trying to launch a counterattack. Plus, the protective barrier would help Chakana and his trainer get a feel for how strong the enemy's attacks are.

Until Tempereye reappeared inside the barrier! Like an ethereal shadow, the legendary pokémon slid straight through the Protect and slammed its body into Chakana directly. To protect its eye, it looked like Tempereye rolled into a ball and charged its skin with some sort of shadow energy to inflict great damage while suffering none. The perfectly-targeted attack knocked Chakana straight to the ground. I'd never seen the sigilyph knocked out like that, but there it was, unconscious and unable to battle any further.

Teeth gritted and jaw clenched tightly enough to crack a walnut, Ray reached for his pistol—a revolver of some make. It was different from the gun he had used to shoot Slash back at the Fire Temple. My body froze, except my bladder, out of fear that this was going to turn real ugly real quick.

"That looked like a Phantom Force attack," said Ray, possibly to himself. "Chakana was outmatched from the start, facing a ghost-type." He drew his gun but kept the barrel pointed down. Instead of aiming it, he popped out the clip. "I never expected I'd actually have to go this far against you kids, but I guess it's what needs doing." Apparently he didn't load the gun with bullets or darts, or even a real clip. It was a cylinder shaped like the handle of a pistol, but all it held inside was an orange-and-red pokéball. I didn't need to get shot to know what that meant.

Elliott couldn't believe it. "You're kidding me!"

"Nope. Seems this will be legendary versus legendary."

"You're going to risk that kind of battle in such confined space? With us here?"

"The only alternative is you recall that Tempereye back into its shell and hand it over to me. Otherwise, we'll find out if the stories are true of people mutating when they get too close to the battling Creation Pokémon." At no point did Ray's voice or stance ever waver. He wasn't afraid of the consequences even a little bit. If Elliott wanted to challenge him, he was going to take it.

As scared as she was, Elliott responded the only rational way there was for a championship trainer: "Fine! Bring it on!" She took ahold of Tempereye while Ray and I were busy battling, and she wasn't about to let her effort go to waste handing over a legendary pokemon to a shady law enforcement official. Actually, she probably wouldn't hand it over to anyone, period. Force was the only option for her.

When the pokéball dropped from Ray's hand, I dove for the sealed room where Tempereye was once held. That door seemed like the most likely protection I could get from the battle that was soon to commence. Reggie and Elly both followed close behind me and followed my instruction to get behind the door just before the first mass of fire hit the wall. Salamorder's pokéball spilled fire the instant it opened and the gigantic lizard emerged. It was only a week ago, but I had forgotten exactly how majestic Salamorder looked. His scales were like flaming rubies, and the fire around his body was perfectly controlled, with the exception of opening his pokéball.

Tempereye would be powerful to survive long against Salamorder. Perhaps this was the only chance I would get. I pointed my pokédex at the large bat.

_374-Tempereye_

_Chiroptera Pokémon_

_[Dark] [Poison]_

_Average Height: 1'8"_

_Average Weight: 18.4 lb._

_Shade follows this pokémon wherever it goes. The darkness brought by this pokémon is absolute even to pokémon that can see in the dark and is thought to be radioactive. Tempereye brought nightfall at noon and ended battles in an instant._

Really? So much power existed in such a small creature? Radioactive darkness didn't sound good, either. No wonder battles between legendary pokémon caused people and environments to mutate. What if that happened to me, as close as I was to this battle? Come to think of it, I'd seen four—maybe five!—of these Creation pokémon. Could be that I was already doomed to transform in some way. My hands drifted upward into my gaze as I wondered, particularly with thoughts of Lauren streaming water from her hands and Blade absorbing fire into his skin.

I almost ran away when the fighting began. A pokémon battle usually starts out slowly and increases in intensity as each trainer or pokémon gets a feel for the opponent. But these two immediately began with high-level attacks that filled the room with fire and smog. Darkness fell over the room like a black curtain dropping on a stage. Powerful flames rose high and wide to disperse the darkness, only to be consumed again seconds later. Aimed low, fire crawled across the ground and shoved the shadows upward toward the ceiling, where it took a life of its own and snaked into the center of the swirling firestorm. The temperature rose so dramatically it was like being back inside the Fire Temple at the heart of a volcano. But the smell wasn't sulfuric this time. It was sweet and yet spoiled at the same time.

From my vantage point, it was impossible to tell what was happening for certain. I only caught random glimpses of Tempereye among the shadows and fires, and it was impossible to glimpse Salamorder through all that smoke.

Amidst all the sensations of heat and the immense stench of gas, suddenly the room exploded! Noxious, hot air spread even faster than the fire did, shoving Elliott into the iron door and into the room with me before she could burn. I pulled her in and tried to cover her up until the heat blast faded. Elliott was unconscious, probably from banging into the door so hard, but at least she was still breathing.

The cave was still piping hot and smelled like potato soup left out in the sun, but all the sounds of battle died. Slowly in case either pokémon to catch a second wind, I poked my head around the frame of the door to see the result of the battle. The floor was a scorched mess, and the walls were smeared with grease stains. The torch sconces had spilled over, spreading fire around the floor of the cave, giving me just enough light to watch Tempereye fall to the ground despite attempts at frantic, disoriented flapping. Salamorder remained on the field, planted in place on all fours like a predator waiting for its prey to get complacent. In the battle of fire against shadow, the fire won.

Marshal Ray walked out of the shadows, still upright and mostly unharmed. His hat looked a little charred and his jacket was singed along the neckline, but he made off alright considering how badly he could have been burned.

He found Tempereye's pokéball underneath one of the sconces, right where it rolled after Elliott dropped it. He groaned as he bent over to pick it up, and his back popped twice when he stood. In a flash, Tempereye disappeared inside the black pokéball.

"You don't mind if I take this, do ya, Gus?" The comment obviously wasn't meant as an actual question. He sounded cocky when he said it. It was intended to startle me into complying with him, but also to hide his momentary injury so he still seemed invulnerable to me. It worked.

As he walked by Salamorder, he patted the fire dragon on the side of the head, eliciting no reaction whatsoever from the giant pokémon. "All that power in only a week of training," said Ray. "Imagine what I'll be able to do with him in a month." True as that may be, and powerful as Salamorder was, I doubted whether one of the Marshals could actually control a legendary pokémon so completely as he thought he could.

His mistake was making contact. Salamorder didn't respond, and that's how I saw it. His breathing was shallow and labored, his jaw was slackened, and his head rested flat on the ground. Whatever the details of battle were, Salamorder didn't just beat Tempereye; Tempereye beat him back. Both pokémon were unconscious when Ray withdrew Salamorder back into the orange pokéball.

Before he disappeared, he glanced back at me and said, "Tell your sister I'll be coming for Gnomoder real soon."

* * *

><p><em>Sorry about the slow update. It looks like my schedule will be erratic after all. Even if I'm not updating on a regular basis, I still plan to put forth full effort into my writing to deliver a solid, engaging story to you. I've also been really bad about appreciating those of you who review. I never know what to say, but I keep the email notices for a long time because the reviews make me feel good. <strong>MidsummerMoonlight99<strong> has been a regular reviewer who reminds me that people care to know what will happen next, **Lunary Canary** provides me with entertaining renditions of her mental anguish through some of my crazier chapter, and **Whimsical Acumen** has offered new insights to consider in the early stages of the story. You and everyone else who leaves a review give me the encouragement to keep working._

_The next chapter will reveal the fallout of Marshal Ray obtaining the legendary Tempereye and its battle with Salamorder. In all his battles, Gus had never been so thoroughly overwhelmed, and now his sister is being targeted. How will he recover, and what will he do next?_

_**Trivia:** There was hidden foreshadowing at the end. Did you see it?_  
><em>Also, I've ended every pokémon's weight with an additional .4lb. I don't know why. I just did, and I will continue to do so for all of my imagined creatures.<em>


	38. Dig

Dig

I'll admit it: I was a little bit confused. Baffled. Flabbergasted. All this time I had no clue that the law enforcement officer I met continually along my journey was actually the exact type of guy I feared was collecting the legendary pokémon. He was a stronger trainer than anyone I'd ever faced. Even Elliott couldn't beat him. I had no doubt he could give a Gym Leader a run for the money. Especially now, with two legendary pokémon under his belt. He was nigh unstoppable!

And he was going for Brooke next! I told her taking that legendary pokémon with her was going to get her in trouble. And the worst part was I didn't have one of my own to battle her with! But was she even capable of fighting back against the Marshal? She was the most likely to be victorious, right? I mean, she was the only other person with a legendary pokémon.

Except for that Burton mercenary with the cape and mask. I guess that guy did capture Clendine. Maybe if there were a chance of him teaming up with Brooke, then they could defeat Ray. Unless Burton was actually working with Ray. Could that be the case? Was it possible the two of them were working together to gather legendary pokémon? Did that mean Ray already had _three_ legendary pokémon in his possession? I shuddered to think what would happen if he managed to acquire all eight of them. My satchel was only big enough for six!

Elliott stirred, finally waking after the explosion earlier knocked her out. The first words she uttered, barely intelligibly, were, "Choose Razzling Cream!" She must have been dreaming about selling new flavors of frozen yogurt.

"What's Razzling Cream?"

"What?" She looked at me through one open eye and then turned her head back to the ground until she felt strong enough to push herself up again. I offered her a hand but she stood up on her own, still holding her head firmly. I didn't envy the headache. "What happened?" Her expression turned to worry. "Where's my pokémon?"

I pointed to her belt where three pokéballs were attached by carabineers. "They're all still there."

"My new one!" she demanded. "The bat one with the black-and-purple pokéball!"

"You mean Tempereye? Yeah, that one's gone. The Marshal took it after he knocked it out with Salamorder."

"He did what?!" She swore and kicked a piece of rubble that had rolled into the room with us. Then she put her finger in my face sternly, like this whole situation was my fault. "I'm going to get him for this."

"Unless you want me to pull it, can you stop sticking your finger so close to my nose? I'm a blower, not a picker."

"You're gross." But it got her hand out of my face.

"I'm thinking," I corrected her.

"Yeah? About what?" She didn't sound very gracious that I kept an eye on her while she was knocked out. It's not as if I could pull her into a pokéball and carry her out of that Shade Temple in my satchel.

"How to get out of here."

"What's so hard about that? We just follow the mist maze again and climb out the exit."

"You think it'll be that simple? Maybe you've forgotten about where we are, but there are pretty good chances someone will arrest us when we get out of here. First, this property is forbidden access, and I'm guessing you didn't get a license from the city council."

"True story."

"Second, the people here don't believe in allowing pokémon into the village. We are both carrying pokémon with us." I pointed to Elly and Reggie to emphasize my point. Elly was sniffing around trying to find something to eat. Reggie was in the corner of the cave scratching away at the rocks.

"What is their problem with pokémon? Is it a moral thing about owning another living creature, or is it some stupid fear about pokémon having the ability to break things?"

"I never bothered to ask." That was actually a good question. It even made me stop to consider what little I knew about the few people I'd met to figure out why pokémon were such a problem for them. But that task was tough, given that I'd only met one guard who was fairly considerate and a bunch of kids who were a lot like my friends and I were a few years ago. Except they didn't immediately run to the "forbidden" place to play around. Maybe they didn't have that much in common with me.

"Is there a third point?"

"Yes. I disappeared in the middle of a wide-scale game of Hide-N-Seek, and someone is going to accuse me of cheating by hiding out in the basement of a building where everyone was forbidden to go."

Elliott scratched her head once more. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's proof that I was seen near the building. Or something. Maybe. What difference does it make? I'm not sure how to get out of here without going back through the house. I mean… Are we even in the village anymore?"

"Well, how good is that cat at digging?"

Without missing a beat, I replied, "I can barely get him to stop."

"Good. We don't want him to."

"I don't follow." Reggie was still scratching away at the cave wall. He'd carved out a small burrow in the ground and kicked up a little bottle. "Hey! You found a potion!" I paused. "Who would bury a potion underground? Is there an expiration date on this?" Even as I searched the bottle, the thought of using a potion that old on my pokémon seemed like a really horrible thing for me to do to them.

Elly had been snacking on the rocks Reggie tossed around. One of the many wonders of pokémon biology was how a steel-skinned dragon could find nourishment from eating rocks. I wasn't worried about her iron teeth, but rather about how long it would take to digest those rocks. Judging from her breath first thing in the morning, her stomach had plenty of acids to get the job done. She actually walked over to me with one of the rocks in her mouth and dropped it in my hands, complete with a little bit of dragon spit.

"Aw, thanks, sweetie." Feeling grateful that Elly felt the desire to share her snack with me and pretending not to be bothered by it, I tucked the stone away in my backpack. I grabbed her face and spoke baby talk to her. "Do you have any idea for a way out?"

"Good grief," Elliott moaned. "Just have the immolion dig a hole straight up! He's already starting to cut through the rock here! He can just Dig a way out of this cave. We follow him up, we sneak back into the village proper unnoticed, and then we can find something to eat before we track down that jerk and reclaim my pokémon."

"Of course!" The plan seemed so simple in hindsight. I recalled Elly into her pokéball for easy transport. "Reggie!" He responded with excitement at the call of his name. He came bounding at me and stopped just short of tackling me. The only reason I didn't fall over is that he decided to walk a narrow circle around my legs, effectively though accidentally holding me back upright. I pointed to the wall. "Dig us a path toward the surface!" Reggie eagerly ran back to the cave wall and began digging straight down into the ground. "No, Reggie. Up! Curl upward! Like… Go forward a little and then start looking _up_ while you Dig!"

Pokémon training would be so much easier if they understood every word I said and not just a select few. I mean, I had to coax Reggie into digging an upward ramp out of the underground palace, but he sure knew what "sandwich" meant. To him, it obviously meant, "_my_ food that Gus won't give me unless I'm real pushy and set his shoelaces on fire with my tongue." Unfortunately, that usually worked, too, as I would drop my food in order to extinguish my shoes.

We finally burst through the ground like zombies awakening from the dead. I use that analogy because we happened to emerge in the Stannum village graveyard. Reggie obligingly filled in the hole as we moved out, almost perfectly hiding any evidence that we had been underground. Except for the dirt stains on my clothes, of course. And the undeniable smell of a musty cave emanating from me. And the fact that Drew actually witnessed my descent into the underground. But otherwise, no one would ever know!

Swiftly, I withdrew Reggie before anyone could catch a glimpse of a pokémon standing within the village proper. I felt like the satchel I carried was shining a spotlight on me, or that somehow everyone would know I was in clear violation of the village statute banning pokémon. But what could I do? Leaving my pokémon behind wasn't an option, and I couldn't trust Elliott to look after them and return them to me on my schedule. Plus, she was just as much in violation as I was! I also wasn't ready to leave the village. Sure, I was a little depressed at missing out on another legendary pokémon, but I was still in a new place with lots of new people and things I hadn't seen before. I wanted to spend at least the day.

Elliott took in a deep breath and stretched. "Let's go, Gus."

"Go?"

"Yeah!" She looked at me like I'd just called her a dirty word. "We can't let that guy get away with our legendary pokémon!"

"Really? 'Cause I was thinking I'm a little under-trained for this mess."

"You've got potential, Gus. Don't wuss out on me now!"

It was my turn to look incredulous. "Wuss out?"

"He's wounded! Metaphorically, at the very least. He has no pokémon with him except for three unconscious battlers. This is the perfect time to jump him!"

"That doesn't sound very ethical—attacking an unarmed man with pokémon."

"Neither is incorporating a spy into your team just so he can steal two legendary pokémon from us!"

"That's true. It's a good point. Still, I don't feel up to chasing down a Perioble Marshal right now. I'm feeling a little discouraged right now, plus there's no pokémon center in the village." I just didn't want to tell her how much it sucked to lose a pokémon I spent so much time getting attached to. Sure, he was never very social and I don't think he heard a word I ever said, but he got me out of a lot of jams. Maybe without him, I'd be short two gym badges right then.

"Fine, rookie. You stay here and sulk. I'll go find someone more agreeable to help me chase down that corrupt marshal."

As she walked away, I couldn't help wondering about her choice of words. Was Ray corrupt? The obvious answer was that he wanted to take the legendary pokémon for himself, whether he's a collector or he just wants to be an unstoppable trainer. But there was a chance that Elliott and I were jumping to conclusions. Maybe Ray was specifically tasked by the Marshals Service to find and protect these legendary pokémon before anyone else could get to them. Already Team Omega found one and Brooke actually captured it. That kind of news would catch the attention of law enforcement officials who task themselves with maintaining order in the battling world. He was hired to his job by the Elite Four. Maybe he was working for them now.

I walked out of the graveyard and found Elliott standing around as if waiting for me. "Change your mind?" I asked her.

"Not exactly. Give me your phone." She snatched my Hermes phone from my side and started punching a bunch of buttons. "One of these days, you'll come to your senses, and it'll be good to have an ally. Either way, give me a call when you finally get eight badges. I'm sure I'll have a use for you."

Imagine being told your grand prize for winning first place in a marathon race was that you get to sleep in a bed tonight. That's how excited I felt about being one of Elliott's henchmen. I wasn't so disappointed to watch her go away that time.

But the sky was significantly darker than when I went underground. Night fell surprisingly quickly when I spent hours navigating an impossibly dark maze and battling pokémon way out of my league. Those other kids I joined for Hide-N-Seek probably went home and told their parents about the new kid who disappeared during a game. That shouldn't be suspicious at all.

As I started walking along the village's back roads, rounding the brick houses and the knee-high grass and weeds, suddenly I spotted Fred standing on the wooden porch to a two-story building with the biggest chimney I'd ever seen. He was shouting into a weeping willow tree out in the front yard, and a moment later a little boy dropped to the ground from the lowest branches. Seemed like he was calling a little brother inside for dinner. On his way into the house, he noticed me on the street.

"Gus! Dude!" He looked past me, and his furrowed brow figured out, "Where you hiding in the graveyard?"

"Um. Yeah. For a little bit."

He laughed. "We checked there! You must have found a killer spot. Not bad after you had such a rough start. You must have figured out we were following the flies." His genuine smile suggested he didn't know Heidy spilled those beans for me. "Did you fall asleep there or something? The game ended, like, twenty minutes ago. We tried to find you to tell you, but some of the kids thought maybe you left the village and went into the swamp."

"I think I've had enough swamp for today," I replied.

With a look at my clothes—filthy and still stained by fire, dirt, and yanma venom—he agreed with me. "Come inside and you can relax."

What an odd thing to say to someone you barely know, right? So I wasn't out of line when I asked, "You're just inviting me over? Don't you have to talk to your parents first or something?"

"My dad runs the Tin Inn. It's the only place available for visitors to stay," explained Fred. "Our village is too small for a hotel, and we really don't get a lot of visitors, what with our ban on allowing pokémon within the gates. I assumed a place to stay was what you'd be looking for. We also provide supper, and we can probably find some fresh clothes if you need them." All that sounded amazing. Especially the part about a shower and clean clothes. Maybe even a bandage for my hand.

"Point me to the guest book."

* * *

><p><em>Thanks go to <strong>Kurono-Angel<strong> for contributing Elliott to this story. She's taking her leave for now, but maybe she'll be back later. For those of you who submitted a character but haven't seen him or her yet, just be patient. The story is a long one, and every character will show up when the time is right._

_This one's a shorter chapter as part of a personal transition for Gus. The next chapter will reveal a little more about the history of Stannum Village and their ban on pokémon, and it will also provide Gus with an impetus for growth as a trainer and a person._

_**Trivia: **Do you know what the move Dig does outside of battle? It helps you escape from a dungeon quickly. Sure, you usually go straight to the entrance, but let's be a little more realistic for the sake of digging quickly.  
><em>


	39. Beat Up

Beat Up

Stannum Village really struck me as the kind of place people might consider as close to paradise as humans can create on their own. Everyone was cordial and helpful, offering me tips about what I needed in order to experience Stannum the right way and going so far as to guide me to the places I should see. Fred's mother showed me the fields where the citizens grew vegetables and raised livestock to cover every possible nutrient combination they could need to remain hale and hearty. There was no space wasted anywhere, yet they produced exactly as much food as was needed for every citizen to eat well and feel full at the ends of meals.

After a breakfast of gardening champions, Fred's dad walked me to the sports stadium, which I'd already seen when I first arrived. But he emphasized the facility as the pride and joy of Stannum. Sure, it was a nice stadium during the game, but the problem was I only saw a single game of football, but the stadium was actually a much larger complex than just the AstroTurf. The villagers played everything they possibly could inside, including baseball, tennis, and gymnastics. The batting cages were minimal but very nice, and my teenage mind thoroughly enjoyed watching the girls' gymnastics practice that morning. Sadly, I was pulled away from the show after only a minute because my tour of the village wasn't remotely complete.

One of the football players dragged me to the springs all the way in the back of the village. It was a good ten-minute hike from the nearest building to get to the small recuperation facility at the base of the Gallium Mountains. The villagers took advantage of the volcanic vents to provide their athletes with hot springs that relax the muscles and soothe the soul. Of course, he had told me, the springs cooled off significantly in the past week. Probably the volcano had finally erupted for the last time, he had said. Part of me wanted to suggest that the springs were actually heated by a rampaging fire pokémon, but then I decided against it. No point in upsetting a football player by telling him too much truth, even if it was funny.

The football player abandoned me to the recuperative properties of the much cooler springs, but when I declined the need for a cold soak, the portly proprietor of the establishment escorted me to the place where all the athletes went to get themselves in the proper condition for optimizing the effects of the springs: a gym. Not the type of gym to which I had become accustomed, but a _human_ gym, where humans gathered for the purpose of stressing their bodies to the breaking point in order to make themselves stronger. We had something like that back in Natrium Village, but we called it a "pastry shop." Stomachs used to burst all the time in that place. It was effective at hurting the body, but it fell a bit short on strength gains, unless you were training your sphincter; then you were a friggin' Olympian.

Seriously, though; the gym fascinated me. The owner of the springs handed me over to a couple of fitness instructors, Stan and Edna. Stan was tall and lean, though he was no more muscular than the Elder. He was hardly intimidating in terms of physicality, but he did have a look in his eye that told me these fleshy noodles I called arms weren't good enough for him. Edna was a little shorter than I, and her arms were just as thin, though she did have a great deal more muscle tone. Together, they gave me a tour of the little gym.

Gyms designed for human use exist in other cities, but I never had any reason to visit. Not allowing pokémon to run around the village or train inside the facilities is what made human training seem much more interesting than normal. It was a lot less colorful watching humans exercise and lift weights than it was watching pokémon spew fire, spray water, and spark electricity at one another, but that's probably what made it seem so much more intense. Some of these guys looked absolutely insane! One guy stood in front of a bar that looked as long and heavy as Elly's whole spine. He was picking it up off the floor by simply grabbing it in the middle and whipping it off the ground the same way he would save a baby from a hungry sharpedo!

"You've really never been to the gym?" Edna asked me, noting the sparkle in my curious eyes.

I quickly replied, "I know what you're thinking. A guy with all this going on," motioning across my chest, "must lift weights all the time. Sorry to make the other guys jealous, but… This is all natural."

"That's not what I meant," she said. "I meant that exercising offers you so many benefits. You shouldn't neglect it."

"She's right," said Stan. "Exercise improves your focus, it gives you more energy, and it can improve your mood. The body releases endorphins during exercise, which is a surefire way to make yourself feel great and sleep like a baby."

I couldn't resist. "You mean it'll make me wake up in the middle of the night hungry and crying?"

Stan looked confused. "No. You'll sleep deeply through the night and awaken early in the morning." Clearly my joke didn't resonate with him.

He suggested to me, "You should put on some workout clothes and stick around for some weight lifting." I was wearing khaki pants and a blue t-shirt bearing a logo that strongly resembled the key pattern to opening the Shade Temple beneath the village. I had thought I _borrowed_ the clothes from Fred, but then the cost was added to my bill at his dad's inn. Apparently now I needed to stretch my clothing account again for some actual gym clothes.

"Weight lifting actually looks like it might be too easy for someone of my talents," I joked. When neither Stan nor Edna looked amused, I admitted seriously, "I've never lifted in my life. And based on the color of that guy's face right there, I'm not sure I should start." Really, the guy hoisting the bar from the ground—"cleans," Stan called the move—looked red as a raspberry. Those veins in his forehead looked ready to pop any second!

Edna laughed at my comment for a little bit too long. "It would be better for you to start simpler than that. Weight lifting is great, but you have to start light or you'll hurt yourself. We'll start by doing a quick fitness test to determine your strengths and weaknesses, but I'm pretty sure I've got a good workout for someone like you."

"Um… Fitness test?" That didn't sound like a whole lot of fun, what with it involving real effort from my body. "What do I have to do?"

She smiled and handed my backpack to Stan to toss into one of the day cubbies while she led me to an alcove along the back wall referred to as "the ab room." It housed several machines designed for improving ab strength, including a machine to add weight to crunches, one to add weight to pivoting at the waist, and some sort of chair in which a lady held herself above the floor while pulling her knees to her chest repeatedly. There was also room on the floor to lay out single-person-sized floor mats, as Edna did to get me started.

"Sit right there," she said, pointing to a spot on the mat right behind two white lines that crossed from one side of the mat to the other. "Lie down, and then stretch out your hands and fingers as far as you can without shifting your seat. Do you know what a crunch is?"

"Is that when a dark-type pokémon bites down really hard?"

Edna's responding frown was immensely disconcerting, joining annoyance with fear and confusion. I had momentarily forgotten that the people of this village hated pokémon when I made that word play joke. Perhaps a brief moratorium on the bad jokes was in order in lieu of a real apology.

"No. It's like a partial sit-up that is safer for your lower back and focuses better on the abdominal muscles. I'm going to time you to see how many you can do in one minute."

"Okay." I didn't bother asking what I should do if I couldn't find the strength to do more. That happened after I hit forty-two. Because the crunch was so much quicker than a full sit-up, I still had around twenty seconds left on the clock. After resting for ten of those seconds, I managed to eke out six more crunches before collapsing.

"Forty-eight," Edna told me. "One a scale of 'poor' to 'excellent,' that was good."

"Awesome. So I guess I'm in decent shape after all."

She smirked. "We're not done yet, newbie. Roll over, because now we're going to see how many push-ups you can do in the same amount of time. Do you need an explanation?"

I moaned unhappily as I rolled to my belly and assumed the position. "No. I can handle a few push-ups."

"Wait!" She kicked my leg lightly just above the knee. "Don't let your knees touch the floor. Hands and toes only. No modified push-ups for you."

"Fine." Again, this exercise was easy… for the first fifteen of them! My body just felt so heavy after that. I was barely able to push up once in every two seconds. As soon as I heard the click that indicated the stopwatch stopped, I face-planted on the mat. It tasted like rubber and smelled like a sweat sock, but I couldn't collect enough strength in my arms and chest to push myself away from it.

"Thirty-five," Edna noted. "That's just about average for your age."

"Swell," I grunted. "Are we done yet?"

"Just about." She grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me to my feet all by herself in a single motion. "Now we're going to see how long it takes you to walk a mile and a half." One can only imagine the sarcastic levels of joy that filled my thoughts at the idea of walking that far.

Instead, I responded by asking, "What's that? Like, twelve kilometers?"

"It's two-and-a-half," she corrected me. At that moment, Stan walked back up to us with a pair of shorts that bore the logo of the Stannum gymnasium. "Suit up and head outside." That way of putting it almost dissuaded me from staying. But I was looking forward to completing my first real workout, despite my jokes to the contrary. I exchanged the khakis for shorts and then followed Edna upstairs to the indoor track. It circled around the gym's perimeter, but with no floor in the middle, I could see straight down into the weight room where the vein popper had moved on to some exercise that was either called "burpees" or "having a seizure." (I couldn't distinguish the two.) Two older guys with jogging suits shared the track with us. Given the size and distance of the oblong course, I estimated about six laps would cover the distance I needed.

Edna asked me, "Are you ready? The goal is just to walk as quickly as you can. I'll walk beside you and run the stopwatch until you finish. Don't run and don't jog. Just walk quickly."

"Quick walking is my specialty," I said with a confident laugh. "Actually my specialty is sleeping until noon and getting into trouble, but I've been looking for a new specialty." Luckily she got a kick out of my vigor and chuckled in reply. It felt like a good apology for bringing up pokémon to her earlier.

Which is why I was confused when I found myself asking her, "Do you mind explaining why people hate pokémon here?"

It provided no shock that Edna was not excited by my question, but she also didn't look angry. It was more like she was sad. To lighten the mood and make it seem like I was just curious and had no heavy investment in the answer, I began walking at a brisk pace. She paused, but she was quick to join me.

"You know about the Machine War, right? It happened when the legendary Creation Pokémon tried to eliminate all human life in the region. The Hydrogen Empire started as a small militia in this village, way back when it was the center for the region's technological development. Humans can't possibly fight back against pokémon, and so weapons had to be built to defend the people."

"So you're afraid of pokémon?"

"Not all of them. They serve their purposes in preserving the ecosystem. We raise many for food and use others to provide for the gardens. But training them to battle is unnatural. It's paying homage to a time when pokémon threatened to run humans extinct by continuing to make them powerful enough to kill us."

"That's kind of ridiculous, don't you think?" Maybe I blurted it out too abruptly, but too late to worry about being rude. The damage was done. "I mean, what's the difference between training pokémon and training people? You saw that guy going at it in there. He could kill someone just for having a bad day. A bodybuilder is just as dangerous to untrained people as pokémon can be."

Speaking of Marshal Ray and his fun-loving ways… On my way out of the gym, I saw the approach of the local sheriff. Well, he wore a brown uniform and a gold star, so I think he was the sheriff. In a town this small where no one wanted to catch, train, breed, or research pokémon, it was easy to imagine traditional vocations going out the window. At first I figured he was out on patrol, but then he locked eyes with me, which was touch because my forehead only went as high as his collarbone. His hair was clearly silvering with age. He also appeared to be pretty fit, so he was also likely a regular member of this gym.

"I'm Sheriff Gavin," he spoke to me without so much as offering a handshake. Clearly this was not a social call to the new tourist in town. "I assume you're Gus. You got in yesterday?" He wasn't really asking, but I answered anyway.

"Yes, I am."

"Well, Gus. Yesterday, a Perioble Marshal approached me and claimed that you were in plain violation of this town's ban on possession of pokémon. He further claimed that you attacked him with those pokémon and could have destroyed a local landmark." He paused as if waiting for me to affirm or deny the claim.

"I don't have any pokémon on me," I told him. "The guard at the gate took them from me before he would even let me in, so I don't see how I could attack a Marshal with them. It sounds like the guy may be a little shady if that's what he told you." It took years of back-talking the Elder back in Natrium for me to get to the point of hiding my smug expression when being sassy like that. I tried to stare at the sheriff's nose because I worried that making direct eye contact might be interpreted as challenging him.

He accepted the challenge anyway. "Well, son," he said, choosing words that reminded me he was older and in a position of authority over me. "I'm afraid with an accusation this severe, I'm gonna have to check your bag and be one hundred percent sure about it." He held out his hand toward the backpack in which I carried my supplies on my journey. Reluctantly, I slipped it off my shoulders and handed it away. Sheriff Gavin tore into it like a delycan on a wounded spoink, ripping open every zipper I had and examining my food containers like he was hungry. He did notice the pokémon potions.

"What's this?"

"It's medicine."

"For pokémon," he clarified.

"Yes. I handed over my pokémon to get through the gate, but I'm not going to stop taking care of them when I go retrieve them."

He pressed his lips together as he stared at me. "Mm hm. Son, I'm gonna be straight with you. We checked the silo already. The pokémon you checked in aren't there."

"What?"

"The Marshal assured me you have them and that's why we no longer have them under lock and key."

"I don't have them!" I shouted. "Someone took them!" I suddenly became very antsy and edged my way closer to the sheriff. "Can I have my bag? I've got to go find my pokémon!"

He examined my face carefully, searching for some sign of deception. He'd already been through my whole bag, even if he believed he was missing something, and found no pokéballs. It's not like so many hard, round objects would be difficult to detect inside a simple backpack. Slowly, he stood and backed away, allowing me to take the bag and begin closing all the zippers.

"It's possible you're right. The Marshal mentioned another girl, too, in his story. No one's seen her, though. Maybe she took off with your pokémon and the Marshal assumed you were in cahoots."

"Who cares? If she's got my pokémon, I have to find her!" I slipped my backpack on again and hurried toward Fred's house and the Stannum Inn to get my clothes. The sheriff watched me make that detour and followed to see why I didn't head straight for the door. My manic expression stayed with me as I asked them whether they finished cleaning my clothes of the swamp gunk. Fred's father moved more slowly than I would've liked, but Fred had just finished his lunch and decided to be helpful for a moment. His dad located my pants in the laundry and handed them to Fred to fold, and soon he did the same with my shirt.

"Here you go, mate," Fred said with that bright grin of his.

"Thanks so much," I said. "I'm sorry to run out, but I have to be on my way. You already have my charge information. Thanks again! I hope I'll be back someday for a visit!" I threw my clothes in my backpack and ran to the gate, quickly escaping this swamp-protected town and heading out to find whoever "stole" my pokémon…

And hid them inside my freshly pressed pants.

* * *

><p><em>I realized I hadn't updated in a while when I saw the post date for my previous chapter was three weeks ago. Lightning Returns has been taking a good chunk of my free time lately. I'll likely post three more chapters and then take a break to work on my dwelling Yu-Gi-Oh! story. For those curious, this next chapter will send Gus to Stibium City with a stop at the local pokémon gym. Will his new understanding of strengths and weaknesses help him as he trains his pokémon? And is Ray out to get Gus, or is the marshal just testing the young trainer to see what he can do? These questions will be answered before my hiatus, so keep reading!<em>

_**Trivia:** My original plan for Stannum was to show it as a religious sect that prohibited pokémon training to honor Tempereye as their guardian god, but I didn't like the belief that they would fear pokémon battles and still worship a legendary pokémon who might protect them when needed. I like it better with Stannum being a reminder of the Machine War and the "last place anyone would look" to hide one of the legendary pokémon._


	40. Outrage

Outrage

The sky disappeared as the walls closed around me. Despite having about fourteen meters of space on either side of me, the space still felt narrow simply because of the architecture. The castle may have been giving me a big, steel hug the way its two wings stretched forward from the atrium. Neither side provided a route inside the castle, however. That was only located atop the cascading pile of stairs in front of me, in the heart of the castle's hug. The mere thought of climbing those stairs exhausted me. I'm pretty sure the ski path down the mountainside was a shorter distance than that.

I raced Reggie up the massive staircase and found myself oddly pleased when I wasn't even breathing that hard at the top. I guess Edna was right about my cardiovascular strength. Of course Reggie beat me up there by a kilometer, but he has twice as many legs as I do, plus a tail to keep himself balanced.

_Enough fun,_ I told myself. _At least until I figure out what's going on._

The top of the stairs revealed another world of its own. The castle appeared as a city within itself. Each wing has a wide platform holding huge sections of activity, the walkways an amalgam of meticulous cobblestone. The west side with its boxy buildings seemed like storage, labs, and warehouses, whereas the east side looked more like residences and a chapel, with more spiral roofs. Every building looked decidedly blue, although some of the arches and windows appeared lighter in the sunlight. Overall, the color scheme worked surprisingly well for one so simple.

And straight down the middle of the two wings was the castle's keep, marked by two small towers and a hall guarding a building that seemed to grow forever up the back. That keep alone could house all of Natrium Village, including the people, the pokémon, and all the farmland we ever needed. The hall was most visible all the way across Stibium City for its giant, red Omega symbol. This gigantic, mechanical oasis in the middle of an already impressive city served as an unmistakable boast to everyone that Team Omega had the money and technology anyone could ever need.

"No wonder they took offered so much money to someone like me," I said to Reggie. I'm not sure he shared my sense of wonder, but at least he looked at me when I spoke.

I looked him in the eye and sighed slightly. "I have no idea what to expect in here." Just going off the look in his eyes, I added, "Probably not a lot of food for you." But then he surprised me. My giant immolion, who stood taller than I did even when squatting on his haunches, walked over to me and pressed his face into my shoulder. Even though his muscle mass caused me to lose my balance and stumble, it was a sign of affection. Reggie had my back if I needed him to. I rubbed his short, fiery warm coat and said, "Thanks, buddy. Let's head in."

During my walk from Stannum Village through the swamp and across the grasslands to the edge of the Tellurium River where Stibium City was built, I'd had a lot of time to think. And a lot of time to battle wild pokémon who thought I invading their territory or otherwise looked like food, but I spent a lot of time thinking when I wasn't battling to protect myself. Everything I'd seen in the past few months finally caught up to me, and I was forced to piece it all together or let it consume me.

And when I had time to think, I had time to come up with questions.

Two guys stood at the top of the stairs, each adorned in black sweaters with little metal badges on their chests. It was weird to see security guards at the door. Team Omega was supposed to be such a welcoming place where people strived to improve the lives of the common civilian. Why would they need to keep people out?

"You aren't wearing any Omega gear," one of the guards said to me. He also eyed Reggie as if determining whether he was a threat. Reggie was pretty happy just to be poison-less and breathing city air (which is better than swamp air), so he wasn't very intimidating at the moment. "Do you have your ID?"

"I don't remember hearing anything about needing an ID when Valence showed me around the Cuprum facility," I said, hoping the name-dropping and knowledge of the organization would give me some credibility. But it reminded me that Valence gave me something during that trip. I pulled the Hermes phone from my backpack. It was still a little wet, but the circuitry was just as waterproof as my pokédex. "He gave me this."

The security guard nodded as if he recognized it. But that wasn't enough. "Can you please call your supervisor?"

"My supervisor?" Like I'd know who to call even if I had the numbers of my Omegamates. But when I searched the contacts list, there was an entry marked Valence. "Huh." I tried calling the number and waited through a single ring before that ghostly voice picked up on the other end.

"Go."

"Um…" I wasn't expecting him to be quite so terse on the phone.

"Have you arrived at Stibium City, Gus?"

"Wow. You're good to recognize my voice just from that. Oh, but yeah. I'm outside, talking to the security guards I didn't know we had."

"Wait there. We will send someone to retrieve you and bring you to us for your report." I almost asked who "us" was, but then I remembered about Valence's little quirk. He seems to think the voices in his head are legitimate people and always talks in plural pronouns.

The phone clicked off and I looked at the guards. "I guess I'll wait here for someone from inside to come get me." The guards seemed amenable to that solution, though they continued to eye me warily. I suspect it was my swamp-drenched clothes—now rather crunchy from being sun-dried—that made me so untrustworthy in their eyes. "You guys ever take a swamp bath?" I asked, trying to break the tension. "It tastes like someone bathed in orange pulp and coffee grounds."

Timing could not have been better for the hooded and particularly hairy trainer who emerged from the castle doors. Thanks to him, the awkward silence between me and the ever-suspicious guards didn't need to continue. But that was like jumping from one frying pan into another, because now I had to endure awkward silence from Hoodie Harry, the man whom I once thought was the person Ray was following.

Harry spoke to the guards briefly and then said, "Follow me. Valence wants to see you."

The guards stood aside while Reggie and I followed our still-hooded guide into the castle. I expected we would find Valence in a throne room, sitting on the cushioned seat of a spectacularly ornate chair, and that throne room would be located straight toward the back of the keep. But instead, Harry led me through the front door and straight down a small hallway on the east side of the entrance hall. We traveled up one set of stairs and turned a single corner in a hallway just wide enough for two people to stand side-by-side.

"I feel like I owe you an apology," I said, out of the blue.

Harry asked, "Why?" It sounded like a scoff the way he said it. Like he didn't understand what I would offer such an obscure statement as an icebreaker.

"Because I assumed the worst about you. Back in Cuprum, I regarded you suspiciously because I thought the Marshals were watching you."

He took one look at me, close enough for me to see his brown eyes, so dark they were almost black. At this range, I could also see the hair growing out of his face. It was bad enough that he had a full beard like only mountain men can grow, but his eyebrows grew almost as wild. I made sure not to flinch, though, because I didn't want to upset him. "Don't worry about it." He turned away and continued leading me. Kind of weird he didn't have even one follow-up question, like how I knew the Marshals weren't after him or how I even thought of that in the first place.

"I apologize for asking this," I said, leading into another awkward conversation, "but do you wear that hoodie to cover up your excess body hair?"

"Congratulations, detective," he replied snidely.

"Maybe this is a bad time to ask if you have superpowers, then."

Suddenly he stopped cold and turned to glare at me so hard he could have been looking straight through me. "What?"

"It's just that I met… people… who have the ability to do what pokémon do." I wasn't sure I sure include names in case those same people would be upset with my betraying their confidence. "I started to wonder if anyone in this organization can do it, too."

Harry grunted and pointed me the rest of the distance down the hallway. "Go talk to Valence and General Caan." He stood still from that point and merely pointed me away from him. Instead of wasting my breath on apology, I simply nodded and passed by another security guard, who pulled the door open for me as I stepped into what looked like a small lecture hall.

Aside from the rows of seats with those foldable desks on them, the podium up front, and a few informative tapestries hanging from the walls and ceiling, the only thing I could see in the room was a congregation of Caan, Fey, and Valence. I might have been more tactful had they sent someone other than Harry to be my guide. See, my thoughts were already largely spent on how much I distrusted Ray. Now I was reminded that I also distrusted Harry. And my sister distrusted all of Team Omega. Before I made any decisions on who to trust, though, I had to find exactly the right questions to learn what I needed to know.

"You're old, right?"

Although Fey reacted to my question with shock and Caan appeared to laugh, Valence showed no reaction whatsoever to my abruptness. "We have been here for ages," he confirmed.

"Okay. So maybe you can actually tell me something about the Hydrogen Empire."

I had expected to strike a nerve or something. Maybe feel my ears pop from the sudden air pressure change when everyone gasped simultaneously. But no one responded at all. Even Caan and Fey looked a little bit clueless. At least their reactions helped me feel less like being the only kid who didn't study in school.

"How much do you know of the Hydrogen Empire?" Valence asked me.

"Practically nothing," I assured him. "That's why I figured you might know about it."

Valence replied, "Tell us as much as you do know and then we can fill your knowledge."

"Okay. Well, I know that it had something to do with a whole bunch of legendary pokémon with the power of Creation running amok—fighting each other constantly, I think. Supposedly their fights sometimes caused people and pokémon to mutate." In the moment, I realized something else. "I'm betting that's where all that talk or aura came from and where people learned how to use the same abilities as pokémon." Valence offered a slight nod, but I also noticed how Caan's jovial look faded and Fey turned to look away from me.

I figured it best to continue. "Um, moving on… I know there were a lot of technological developments like the pokeball and the technical machines, but I don't know what else off the top of my head. They all came about because people tried to fight against the legendary pokémon in self-defense. They figured keeping the legendaries away from their homes would prevent such devastation. Uh… I know the legendary pokémon were sealed away in these temples I keep stumbling across, but I don't know how. Presumably it was the Hydrogen Emperor. That would explain why the people of Stannum revere him so."

With a slight shift in his stance, Valence asked me, "You learned all of this on your journey?"

"Yes. I don't remember hearing anything about it back home."

"Then you already have the knowledge that has shaped this region's history—the fear of death that prompted the Hydrogen Empire to rise and wage the Machine War. Those pokémon attributed _legendary_ status in this region are primordial to humankind, having grown in concert with the lands themselves. Just as happens so often with humans, their power was nearly even, and each feared its own survival should the others begin to attack. Fear of uncertainty led to large-scale battles with every meeting.

"Unfortunately, as you have learned, such power often collided with destructive results. The landscape changed. Many species of pokémon unseen before then emerged from whatever life forms mutated within the radioactive energies, and pokémon that previously lacked the potential for evolution suddenly developed into something new altogether.

"One thousand years ago, humans fought back. Technology developed over years of attempting to defend against pokémon attacks were built for war instead—weapons of vast destructive power that might have obliterated the region had the war not ended when it did. Of all the technology, the most effective were the pokéballs, which realized an ability that separates pokémon from humans: the ability to convert matter into energy. Once converted, pokémon could more easily be tamed and trained for battle, and indeed even empowered with technical machines simply by manipulating the energy waves comprising their forms. Many species of pokémon were bred specially for that war—to be powerful engines of destruction capable of standing against the pokémon who threatened the region with extinction.

"The human role in the war was vital, but foolhardy. Your initial deduction that aura power developed within the radiation of the legendary energy was false. In actuality, it was technology that gave humans such power through genetic manipulation. In battle after battle, one weakness became apparent in the humans' plan: There will always be a momentary lag between the time a battle command is issued and the time a pokémon executes the technique."

I nodded. "That's why people decided to try combining people with pokémon. That's how Lauren can spread water from her hands."

"Yes. Her unique genetics afford her abilities normally not seen from humans. That is one of the reasons we seek to excavate the relic left from the Machine War. With each rediscovered piece of technology, we achieve another step in repairing the genetic defects that plague a portion of the population, forced to hide in shame for the errors of their ancestors."

It was hard not to glance at Fey and Caan. I tried not to because I'm sure the conversation hit them hard enough as it was, but their defects were tough to hide: Fey's albinism and Caan's giantism. Even though Fey's sunglasses and day cloak hid her characteristics from view, they still drew a bit of attention to her. Those physical abnormalities were side effects of their corrupted genetics.

To move the topic along, Fey asked me, "Do you understand better why we seek these ancient temples?"

"I think so," I answered. "But why wake up the legendary pokémon if they were so dangerous?"

Caan chimed in then. "We did not know Gnomoder was already awake when we entered the Gnome Temple. My intention on that excavation was never to open his pokéball."

"But you still chased after my sister for capturing him and assaulted me when you thought I helped her."

"Control of the legendary pokémon will be equally important," Valence claimed. "After we excavate the hidden temples, we cannot simply leave behind such dangerous creatures where anyone may wander in after our work is complete. We hold little doubt that is how your sister obtained Gnomoder."

Something in his voice compelled me to believe him. "I'm sorry I accused you. In that case, you should know… There's someone out there collecting legendary pokémon from the temples."

Valence waited patiently as I collected my thoughts. Caan and Fey also awaited elaboration on what I had to say. But when I said no more, Valence asked, "Is there more to this story?"

"There is," I admitted, "but I was expecting at least one of you to look surprised." _That_ drew shock from Valence's two companions. Fey took a step back—unconsciously being defensive—and Caan let the corners of his mouth pull into a grin, as if to say "Oops."

The big boss nodded subtly. "Your level of trust with us is disconcerting, but your assumption is correct. How astute you are."

Suddenly a very familiar voice said, "I told you he was something." That Stetson-wearing Marshal stepped into view from the wings and walked to Valence's side. His clothes were a lot cleaner and less singed than the last time I saw him. Ray touched the brim of his hat as if it were too much trouble to tip it properly. "It's always a pleasure to see you, Gus."

"What the heck!" I almost stumbled from my outburst, but I caught myself on the edge of the table. "You're part of Team Omega?"

Ray made a face. "My rank is General, same as Caan. But didn't you just now predict that I was working with them?"

"Of course I predicted it, but I didn't know I was right!" I'm not sure anyone present understood my mental plight.

Ray just smiled that oddly comforting, duplicitous smile of his. "Believe it or not, that's one of the traits I admire about you. You're smart enough to figure things out on your own, but you don't jump conclusively to that possibility until you have proof."

Compliments aside, my blood was boiling. I couldn't tell if my face was flushed at all but I felt torrential inside, caught between my emotions wanting to lash out against the man who deceived and ambushed me and my body still paralyzed from the shock of realizing the man I now distrusted so much worked for the same organization I did—one that my sister warned me not to trust. It's like I was so filled with a mix of anger and fear that my body just shut down. Ray followed me ever since I ended up in the desert, he ingrained a spy into the ranks of my pokémon, and he even attacked me in his efforts to capture two legendary pokémon. Maybe even three…

"I don't trust him," I finally confessed.

Fey reacted as if I had hurt her directly with that comment. "Don't be so rash!" she urged. "He's a Perioble Marshal, licensed for law enforcement by the Elite Four themselves."

"Do they know he's an Omega?"

"Sure they do," Ray said. It sounded as much like a brush-off as an assurance. "I understand how you might distrust my methods, but I hope that through further working together, you'll come to appreciate what I have to offer."

"Ray is our strongest general," Caan told me. "He even beats me with his pokémon. Without him, our research would sometimes not work out right."

"I still don't trust him."

Valence ended the conversation by explaining, "You do not have to. Despite the fact that Ray is the one who selected your application as our next potential pokémon master, we do not wish to team you together. There is another general we wish you to join." He nodded to the Omega grunt standing next to the door. That must have been the "send him in" signal.

The door opened and the grunt said three words. I would have watched if I had been able to take my distrusting eyes off of Ray. Then maybe I wouldn't have been blindsided again.

"You called for me, my liege?"

I gasped sharply. My body went cold and I lost the ability to breathe for a moment. "That voice… It can't be!" Finally I found the strength to take my eyes off Ray and look straight into the spiky-haired face of Burton, the caped man who invaded the Undine Temple at Natrium Village.

* * *

><p><em>This chapter took me a long time mostly because life's stresses piled up on me the past six weeks and gave me writer's block in a bad way. But I am excited about it. Next chapter will reveal Gus's response to this recent news. That one will mark a hiatus point while I work on my other big project, but I'll be eager to get back to it. <em>

_**Trivia:** I don't like the cliche of having everyone peg the hero as a "chosen one" right off the bat. I like it more when the hero seems like someone who came out of nowhere. Even though it seems like I violated that, Gus has his legitimate charms that will be revealed in the future. _


	41. Discharge

Discharge

There I was, surrounded by the two people I hated the most, plus a giant who could crush me in one hand and a ghostly man whom I really knew nothing about. Even though I knew these people, and Fey had been a friend to me, I never felt more isolated. I didn't understand what these people were doing. All I had wanted was a place to belong. I didn't sign up for this insanity.

"You've met before?" Caan asked of me and Burton.

I was fuming too much to respond right away. Burton answered, "He was outside the Undine Temple when Clendine got away from me." He sounded so laid back about it. Like it was just another day, and he and I crossed paths by pure chance.

"He got me exiled from my village," I grumbled.

"Oh. That is unfortunate," Valence confessed.

Burton kept the distance between us when he said, "I am sorry that happened. It was a case of wrong place, wrong time. You should not have shouldered the blame for my invasion."

"Fat lot of good that does me now."

Ray shook his head. "Look, Gus. I hope you're able to get past that. Look at all that's happened for you since you left. You're a pokémon trainer now, and a darn good one. You've got four gym badges! That's more than a lot of trainers your age can say. And you never even would have left home to begin that journey if not for your exile."

I scoffed. "Silver lining, right?"

"As sad as your circumstances," Valence started, "your contributions to the team are undeniable. Your teammates assess you as a pleasure to have around between your sense of humor and your boyish earnestness, your pokémon are further testament to your ability to garner trust among those around you, and even we are impressed by your proclivity for locating the hidden temples and discovering the legendary pokémon. You belong with us, so much that we wish to bring you in as a Captain among our ranks."

Fey softly cleared her throat and said, "That's the same rank I have."

"You'll report to me," Burton spoke. His voice was gentle and soothing. I acknowledged the attempt to calm me, but it didn't work.

"Every time I've seen you, you've been by yourself. Caan actually spends time with his teammates. Exactly what kind of leader are you?"

"One who's very curious," he said. "There's still much in the world I don't understand. Maybe you can come along and help me find what I'm looking for."

I scoffed. "Another legendary pokémon?" Burton didn't respond. I must've hit the nail on the head with that guess.

Valence stepped toward me, a show of equality as he narrowed the gap between us, yet still a sign of superiority as his broad shoulders blocked the light coming in from the windows. "Gus. The offer is here for you to join us and bring back what was lost to this region during the Machine War. You will be a bastion of easy living for future generations."

He extended his hand to me. "Will you accept?"

As I stared at his wide hand and all that he offered, I heard the Elder's words echo in my mind.

"_I'm afraid without Clendine sealed in the Undine Temple, the pokémon in this area will go wild. They may even attack people without provocation. The village should provide safe refuge for the most part, but the outside areas will offer no protection."_

If we continued collecting the legendary pokémon and letting them out of their confines—or worse; used them in battle—the world would suffer for it. Ray admitted that he was only following me because I had a knack for finding the hidden temples, making life easier for him. And Valence, apparently.

The Elder, Brooke, Drew… They all believed disturbing the legendary pokemon would end in tragedy.

Finally, I said, "I can't."

Valence withdrew his hand. "Cut him loose." As simply as that, he was done with me, like he had been expecting it the whole time. But his command wasn't limited to severing my membership with Team Omega.

Immediately, Ray stepped forward and produced handcuffs from his belt. "In the name of the Marshals Service of the Perioble region and under the authority of the Elite Four, you are hereby under arrest."

What charge could they possibly have for arresting me? The worst thing I've done is trespass on forbidden territory in Stannum Village. And bring pokémon in past the guards, though that was not my fault and was already disproven by their sheriff. Unless they trumped up charges that made it seem like disturbing the legendary pokémon was _my_ idea. Whatever excuse Ray planned in order to lock me up, it would without doubt be a bogus charge, and the word of a fifteen-year-old trainer probably wouldn't carry a lot of weight against the claims of a Perioble Marshal.

I had to make a break for it!

"Reggie! Smokescreen!" My partner quickly filled the small lecture hall so full of smoke I couldn't even see Ray in front of me anymore. I took off for the door, whistling as I did so Reggie would know to follow me.

It satisfied me to hear Ray sound frustrated. "Did no one _see_ the immolion in the room?"

I grinned to myself as Reggie and I barreled past the guard and ran down that narrow hall back toward the front of the castle keep. It felt good to put one over on him after what he did to me with Sigilyph.

I popped out into the main entrance hall with Reggie in tow. The two of us almost barreled over two guys pushing around a cart full of computer equipment. The guys were quick enough to jump out of the way, though the cart made no such effort. Unfortunately, the equipment caused the cart to weigh much more than I did, so colliding with it felt like hitting a wall. It almost turned me around, too. But I had no desire to run deeper into the castle. I needed to be outside, so I shoved into the cart again, tipping it just enough this time for it to topple over, and then I was out the door.

Only this time, I _did_ hit a wall. A golett, specifically. It stood in front of me as solid as a piece of the castle itself. But when Reggie collided with it, he passed straight through, an act which confused my poor immolion and sent him sprawling on the landing toward that massive staircase.

I only barely had the chance to look up at Hoodie Harry before he said, "Bulldoze." The golett in front of me began stamping his heavy feet on the ground with intense force. The ground rumbled beneath me, bouncing me up and down just enough to irritate my butt and possibly bruise my tailbone. Reggie was even less fond of the shaking as the tremors seemed to focus on him. Ground-type moves didn't mix well with Reggie, so I recalled him and figured if Harry wants a battle, he'll get a battle!

"Come out, Conch!" In an instant, a bipedal fish stood in front of the golett. He was so excited to be out again and on solid land he was hopping on his toes. "Good to see you, too. See that golett? Hit it with a Fish Kick." It took a second for Conch's stubby legs to turn him around and face his opponent, but he performed his attack in a flash, spraying a crescent of water that slammed into Harry's little blockhead. The golett instinctively brought up its arms for defense, but it was pointless. Conch's leg passed through its target—obviously part ghost-type—but the attack was still effective because it wasn't primarily a physical attack, but rather it was based on slapping the opponent with a whip of water.

"Night Shade," Harry growled. At first, nothing happened. It seemed like the attack failed until suddenly the area all around us flipped hues and appeared fully black, like looking at the negative of a picture. Not only that; silence enveloped us as if everything making noise stopped instantaneously. I felt cut off from the outside world, wandering a vast expanse of darkness for hours. Just as I lost all hope of finding my way out, I saw giant teeth in the sky, moving as if part of an invisible monster. The teeth clamped down on me, piercing my skin sharply…

…and then I woke up. All of that darkness—which felt like hours—actually happened in the course of a few seconds.

"A mirage," I realized. Clearly it was meant to deal mental damage to me and my pokémon. But it wouldn't end this battle! "Conch, use another Fish Kick!"

Conch hopped back to his feet and flipped into the air again, his feet trailing a sharp stream of water. But the water never hits its target this time. A small, foxlike pokémon with lavender-colored fur bounded in front of the golett and produced a Light Screen wall to resist the water and disperse it to the sides. I recognized in an instant the espeon that Fey used when she battled with Gnomoder. The golett used the opportunity to jump out and slam a Hammer Arm right into Conch's skull.

Lo and behold, Fey emerged from the castle in pursuit of me. "Trying to stop me before I can escape and tell everyone about the evil underpinnings of Team Omega?"

She scowled at me. Not much of a response.

"How'd you get the word to Hoodie Harry here so quickly? Psychic message from your espeon?"

"My name is Peter!" Harry shouted at me. He looked annoyed at the nickname. Rightfully so, I guess, since it was heartlessly based on his only physical deformity.

"I don't want to hurt you, Gus," she said. Classic statement that actually means the exact opposite. "Let's talk about this."

Suddenly a deluge of water swept over the golett and the espeon, and with it came the biggest dog I have ever seen in my life. I mean, eight feet long at maybe four hundred pounds, with a body covered in white fur dotted by blue fur matted so thickly it looked like spikes. Even its ears looked like blue horns. The Light Screen reduced the effect of the attack on the espeon, but the golett was spent after suffering two powerful water attacks.

"After all you've done to me," I heard in a familiar voice, "why do I continue to save your sorry butt?"

I recalled Conch into his pokéball. "Because believe it or not, Brooke, you love me."

My blonde sister stepped in front of me looking better than ever. She wore a fluorescent green tank top and khaki shorts that showed so much leg it would embarrass me if she weren't my sister. She didn't have a backpack or anything, which seemed odd for someone who traveled a lot. I actually liked the headband in her hair. It matched her tank top.

"You're lucky I don't trust these people, or else you'd be dead in an alley somewhere," she quipped back.

"I had everything under control."

And it's a good thing I had such confidence in myself because Harry—er, Peter—summoned a ferrothorn to continue the battle. That would be a tough opponent for a water-type lupeddy like Lykos, but it was perfect for a fire-type immolion like Reggie. I called him back to my side.

"Use Flamethrower!" I said. Reggie released a spray of fire that overran the espeon's Light Screen and smothered both opposing pokémon in a wall of flame.

"I see Reggie's grown up a little," Brooke commented with a grin. "Show them Surf," she snickered to Lykos. Her little, white werewolf flooded the walkway with a real gusher of an attack. Amazing how a single wolf could produce enough water to knock a ferrothorn, an espeon, and two grown people off their feet. Lykos also grew up since the last time I saw him, and he evolved into a lupeddy. The big differences between his appearance now and when he was a delycan were the way his fur matted into spikes and the intensity of the aqua blue fur marking his bones.

At the moment, I was just glad the two of them managed to plow over the ferrothorn and espeon so easily. The espeon was a fighter, though. It climbed back to its feet just in time for Reggie and Lykos to complete a cross-style Quick Attack, striking on two sides at once and overriding any effort to Reflect the damage. I admired how much the two had in common. They were both huge and growing ever stronger. Two brothers, standing side by side in stark contrast—one bright orange and the other white like snow.

"They look like a good pair."

Brooke scoffed. "Lykos will still kick Reggie's butt anytime."

Neither Fey nor Peter made a move to continue the battle. Full of arrogance at our overwhelming victory, I turned toward the guard station and the stairs. "I guess we'll take our leave."

But as I began walking, a wall of ice appeared in front of the guard station, blocking my path of egress. That would have been expected if there were an ice pokémon somewhere nearby, but I saw none. The trail of growing ice actually led back to Peter's hairy hands. I knew his werewolf syndrome, or hypertrichosis, or whatever the term is… I figured he was one of those people with some kind of aura ability, but ice seemed like an odd one. Maybe his body sprouted all that extra hair to help make up for the lowered body temperature.

"I don't think your business here is concluded," Peter said.

"Watch yourself," Brooke said. "These guys are mutated. They've got special powers just like pokémon do."

"I've seen it before."

Fey offered again, "This doesn't have to get bad. Both of you can just come inside and we'll talk this over."

"Yeah, right," Brooke said with a laugh. "I think you're just scared of what will happen if you continue to battle against me." She had a good point. If worse came to worst here, Gnomoder could probably break us out without much trouble at all. That was when I noticed the Marshal standing by the entrance to the castle. Ray stood there with his Stetson covering his face from view, watching and waiting. If he stepped into the battle, even with legendary help, we would be in serious trouble.

I whispered, "You think unleashing a legendary pokémon here is a good idea?"

"I think Lykos and Reggie won't even need the backup."

When Peter launched another ice attack, this time targeting me, I hoped she was right. "Flamethrower!" Reggie, confused as to whether he should attack a human, spewed his fire in a wide arc, intercepting the icicle trail before it could hit me. Peter held his hands together for a moment and separated them slowly, revealing an icicle spear, which he was oddly accurate with when he javelin-tossed it at me.

At my command, Reggie moved for another Flamethrower, but something happened to the fire. It bounced back toward Reggie and doubled over on itself as if collected inside some big, invisible bowl. That left me open to receive the spear. I dove to the side hopefully, but in case that weren't enough, Lykos leaped into the air and snatched the spear like it was a Frisbee. His powerful jaws crunched straight through and broke it in half.

"They can hear the attacks we call," I pointed out. It was just like Valence said; as long as pokémon needed time to respond to commands, normal people would always be able to fight faster and launch counterattacks before the attack even started.

"Then we need to have a little mind melding of our own," Brooke suggested. She recalled Lykos, and at the same time I recalled Reggie.

There was only one pokémon I had capable of hearing my thoughts at the exact moment I have them. "Okay, Clara," I spoke to the pokéball. "Help me out here." When I opened the ball, the energy inside rearranged itself into a small, blue fairy that circled my head and brought with her the sound of bells.

"Hey!" Brooke snapped. "You caught a kurigie, too?" She had a similar blue fairy circling her head. It looked like she also caught a spiritymph.

"A what? Oh, you mean that little blue hairball you had last time."

"Yeah. It evolved into this spiritymph. Where did you get one?"

"It's a long story."

* * *

><p><em>Walking past the swamp really isn't such a big deal. Sure, it smells funny and the bug pokémon are huge, but as long as you've got a decent fire-type ally, it's not that bad. Unless, of course, you get completely overwhelmed by bugs that no human should ever have contact with!<em>

"_What in the world are those things?" I screamed. The air filled with four-foot-long bugs that had purple bodies hidden by green wings that looked exactly like the foliage on that tree Reggie scorched during his last battle with the beedrills. Just our luck that tree was the daytime habitat for a swarm of dustox, none of which were happy about being awakened so early. If their reaction was anything like Brooke's whenever I woke her up before her appointed alarm time, then I was in for a fat lip and severe pain between my legs._

_Reggie was strong and getting stronger every day, but spewing flames at beedrill after beedrill was wearing him down. I could see his breathing growing heavier with each attempt he made to flame a dustox out of the air. He was my only fire-type pokémon on-hand and I didn't want to risk pulling him away, but that didn't mean he was my only fire-type attacker. I whipped out another pokéball, and a bright flash preceded the appearance of Siggy, my mimicking golfoam._

"_Siggy, Copycat Reggie's Flamethrower technique!" A moment later, we had two streams of fire blasting into the air, and I must say that dustox are flammable creatures. Perhaps not only were their defenses low, but they also weren't very durable to begin with. On the other hand, they outnumbered us ten-to-one, at least, and that was including me in the count. Thirty dustox altogether was intimidating. We probably could have outlasted them for a while except for that dust constantly scattering from their wings with every flap._

"_What is…?" But it was a pointless question. When the two Flamethrower attacks reduced to one because Reggie passed out, I knew what the problem was. His body had a purple color to it. Dustox poison powder had entered his veins. And I was breathing that stuff, too, which meant it wouldn't be long before the same poison overwhelmed me. I whipped my arm to my face, hoping my elbow would somehow shield my face from air._

"_Return, Reggie." His body disappeared inside my pokéball, where it would remain safe from the effects of the poison until the next time I called him out. Siggy seemed reasonably protected from the poison powder, probably because the foam coating his skin regularly popped and replaced itself with new foam. That was helpful for Siggy to provide me some cover while I figured out what to do._

_And I would have spent that time thinking if not for the dustox that flew straight into my face. Do you know what it looks like to have an angry, four-foot bug with giant wings mere centimeters from your face? Any idea how you would react? Because here's what I did, quite skillfully, I might add: I threw my arms up in front of my face and fell backward into the swamp water. It was much warmer than I expected, like submerging myself in tepid soup. On the one hand, the muck provided me a sort of barrier for the dustox. On the other hand, it was getting hard enough to breathe when I wasn't being held down by my soaked clothes. I struggled hard to break back through the surface of the water and inhale that fresh, poison-ridden air the swamp had to offer._

"_I hate this place," I grunted in between gulps of air._

_At least the dustox had finally lost interested and retreated to another tree until it was time to hunt again. "I miss the yanma."_

_The specific bog into which I had fallen was deep enough that my burgeoning triceps couldn't pull me out—not with the extra weight of my clothes absorbing all that muck. But there was a sort of stair-step exit off to the side, like the ground was tiered and leading up to a very shallow puddle of clear water surrounded by brightly-colored flowers. Which was odd. And after two steps into the puddle, I no longer cared._

_Because there was no ground beneath me._

_When I stopped falling, my whole body ached. It was fifty-fifty whether the pain was caused by the fall or the poison, but I had a feeling the burning sensation in my tongue wasn't from falling into a hole. I fell into a cavernous space under the ground. It was dank and dirty, but it smelled so much better than everything above ground did. It smelled like fresh water. Tasted like freshwater, too. Since my face was submerged when I fell, anyway, I took a few gulps of the water that washed into my cheek. It tasted like ambrosia compared to that disgusting swamp water. And like a good friend, Siggy had dropped into the hole with me. He touched my head to make sure I was okay and then helped me climb to my feet._

"_Thanks, Sig. Now where are we?"_

_The first word I used to describe the space was "cavernous," but that was actually being generous. It was more like an underground bathtub the length and width of eight tubs combined, plus this little tunnel where I fell. Highly curious about the dwelling was what I found when I looked up. Light spilled in from a single hole in the ceiling, probably coming from the only break in the overhead canopy of the swamp and hitting this exact spot. As if worshipping that light, a small swarm of creatures fluttered through the air. It was tough to see them well, but I could see specific features each time of them crossed the light. They were about a foot tall and looked a lot like small, blue people with big black eyes and orange, maybe pink hair. They didn't look very aggressive, fortunately, but they were certainly curious about me. They swarmed my head and poked at me a bunch of times. The poking didn't bug me as much as the lightheaded feeling I got after they did._

_Into the water I went again, this time feeling like it would be much more difficult to get back up. The poison was really getting to me. I didn't carry any antidotes with me. That was probably a stupid decision, but I remembered having a logical reason for declining at the time. What was it?_

"_Oh yeah!" I fumbled around as I reached into my satchel—only successful because Siggy held it open for me—and opened Conch's pokéball. My fish-faced pokémon emerged and looked me straight in the eye, smiling that big, creepy fish smile of his. He liked this kind of environment. He could appreciate the water in which he was born while still achieving the life on land he always dreamed of._

"_Water, Conch," I asked of him. My swollen tongue distorted my voice a little. I sounded like my cheeks were still numb from a trip to the dentist. But Conch got the picture because he reached into the water and cupped his hands together. He held onto the water he collected for a moment before holding it in front of me and dropping it down my throat. As fresh as the water tasted when I first fell in, Conch's touch made it absolutely ecstasy-inducing. And with each successive gulp, I felt my body regain its usual control and push aside the poison burn._

_Five minutes or so lying there in the fresh water until my body expelled the poison through natural means, then I was ready to get back up and check out the little fairy creatures flying around me. Lucky for me my pokédex was waterproof. (I guess the manufacturers realized a long time ago that it would need to be if people were going to be gathering data on water-type pokémon and anything that lived in the swamp.)_

064 - Spiritymph

Sprite Pokémon

[Fairy/Psychic]

Height: 0'10"

Weight: 10.4 lbs

"The rarity of this pokémon is attributed to their short life spans. They grow wings a week after birth, and unless they evolve, they will pass away a week later. They live in swarms to ensure they do not go extinct."

"_Oh geez," I muttered. "That's a real mood builder." A pokémon that dies two weeks after it's born unless it evolves? My first thought was the capture the new pokémon, but suddenly I felt like that was an exercise in futility if it was just going to die real soon._

_Then again, I wasn't exactly leading a sedentary lifestyle. I was sure I could take one with me and get it to evolve before it died. Besides that, being inside a pokéball would put a pause on the fairy's life span. The big advantage to existing as electromagnetic energy was the removal of the aging process—the same way Reggie was safe from the poison as long as he was inside his pokéball. Which reminded me that I should have Conch cure Reggie, too._

"_Do I try it?" I wondered, looking at the smiling pixies. It was hard to believe such friendly creatures could be molded for battle. But maybe that's not what I needed them for, anyway. Support was just as important as the battle itself. "And I do need a psychic pokémon," I noted. "So do I go for it?"_

* * *

><p>Shaking the memory of that poison powder, I told Brooke, "I'll tell you another time."<p>

An invisible field suddenly began pressing against me. That seemed to be Fey's talent. She used an invisible field—a Light Screen—to deflect Reggie's Flamethrower, to protect herself from Gnomoder in that Gnome Temple, and to press offensively into me and Brooke.

In unison, she and I shouted, "Fairy Wind!" Both our fairies turned toward Fey even before we finished giving commands. What would have been a simple, sharp wind pierced through Fey's psychic barrier with the force of a typhoon. Fey and Peter both bowled over backward, knocking their heads on the stone pathways. I felt bad attacking people directly with my pokémon. But then again, it was that or suffer the wrath of Team Omega.

Ray stepped forward right then, and I feared the worst. What if he brought out both Salamorder and Tempereye to battle us? There's no way Gnomoder could take them both on simultaneously, right? But his gaze wasn't fixed on me, or even on our pokémon. His was a curious expression fixated on Brooke.

"Gus, you never told me who your sister was." When he spoke, Brooke's face revealed a look of shock. "Shame on you, Brooke," he said sternly. "Having your pokémon attack people directly."

He must have heard her name from Valence and the others. But the accusation was unfair. "They gave us no choice," I argued.

But Brook grabbed my shoulder. "Leave it, Gus. I don't want to deal with him right now." Her spiritymph and mine held hands as they settled on Brooke's shoulder, and with her hand holding tightly to me, we all Teleported away from the castle in an instant.

* * *

><p><em>And here we are. I'm sure most of you knew Gus would part ways with Team Omega at some point. This is that moment. After a hiatus for me to work on my other stories, we'll see how Gus reacts to this sudden separation from the team that gave him so much on his journey. Thanks go to <strong>WolfSummoner93<strong> for contributing Fey to this story. Characters who have not yet appeared are still forthcoming, and all characters who have appeared so far will return._

_As **Manser77** noticed in my last chapter, I do enjoy pulling plot twists quite often. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I enjoy hearing your reactions. A simple comment like that one can really make my day. Thanks to all my readers!_

_**Trivia:** Spiritymphs are based on the small fairies from Legend of Zelda when I considered a type of pokémon that would be fun to have on the team but would not make great battlers._

_**spiritymph** = **spirit**, metaphorically meaning "consciousness" + **nymph**, a mythological nature deity_


	42. Selfdestruct

Selfdestruct

Teleportation is not as cool as the comic books would have me believe. Literally—and I never use that word lightly—I was on the terrace of a castle in Stibium City one second, and the next I was a mile away in the woods not far from a milling encampment. Ever experience lightheadedness or nausea when you stand up too quickly? Now imagine the distance between your chair and an upright position was a mile and you'll understand why I instantly keeled over and vomited all over the moss.

Brooke's hand met my back. "Don't worry. That happens the first few times you Teleport. It's tough on the body."

"Forgive me for—hrgh!" I paused while another expulsion cascaded from my mouth. "—for hurling on your parade."

She scoffed, clearly not impressed with my attitude. "You're welcome for saving you."

I didn't see her leave, but I heard her footsteps as she crunched her way through the underbrush. My stomach couldn't handle getting up just yet. I only wanted to stay doubled over, trying to shrink the size of my organs responsible for my regurgitation and tamp down the waste material. All that seemed to help, but it wasn't until Clara nested herself in my hair that my stomach truly settled.

"Thanks." It was her fairy power that healed me in that moment. I waited there for a few minutes until I was certain the pain had passed. Maybe it was time to find out exactly where I was, at least long enough to use the bathroom and get something to eat. Clara remained comfortable in my hair with her silky wings gleaming over me as I walked between the trees. It looked like I wore a big, silver bow in my hair.

Brooke brought me to a watermill on the southeastern border of Stibium City. The lights from the city still shone brightly nearby, but this area was quieter. The houses were less made of concrete and steel and more constructed from wood and brick. Yards between the buildings gave kids a place to run around with young, energetic pokémon in tow. A giant waterwheel spun under the force of the river. Heat emanated from a bonfire being used to roast several big game animals. Dinnertime wasn't long off.

"What is this place?" I asked my sister.

"This is just where I stayed the past few days while I learned more about Team Omega. These people work the lumber mill and supply much of the region with the lumber needed to build houses and furniture and flooring. They're a friendly bunch. Surprisingly so. I've been invited to their bonfire feasts every night, and they don't even charge me extra for it."

"That's awesome," I said. Thinking on what could have been, I added, "I should be eating a feast in the dining hall of a real-life castle. I guess eating in the forest is _almost_ the same."

Brooke punched me in the arm. Hard. But I suppressed my wince so she wouldn't know how much it hurt. "Don't be snippy. I'm trying to help you. You'll be safe here tonight. Team Omega won't find you."

"Wonderful," I retorted. It was easy for her to say that like it was no big deal. She hadn't spent months becoming part of the team… learning the idiosyncrasies of teammates and contributing toward a shared goal. Team Omega was the support for my journey. Without their help, I would never have attempted the Pokémon Gym circuit. I'd never have seen the baffling dual climate of Argentum City. The most powerful pokémon would still be only legends to me.

I wandered away from Brooke, through the hubbub of the community, and stopped outside the watermill. Watching it spin was hypnotic and somehow relaxing. It helped me clear my mind and sort through my thoughts.

My sister couldn't understand why I didn't smother her with gratefulness. To her, everything related to Team Omega was black and white and evil all over. She didn't know Kelly or Fey; she'd never experienced Caan's child-like innocence, despite his having the body of two adult fighters. Seriously, how much did he eat in a day? Was there even a point to counting calories? But he was friendly, like an older brother who does his own thing but is willing to help out when he's needed. And until recently, I'd kind of seen Marshal Ray like a father, or perhaps an uncle since I didn't actually see him all that often. Of all the people I'd met since leaving home, he was the one I pegged as the most trustworthy. Brooke didn't know what it was like when a man like that betrays you.

But Valence… The man was an enigma. He's the one who brought me into Team Omega and told me what I knew about their mission. I always felt some strange kind of connection to him, yet his betrayal was much less shocking. Something about him was ethereal, like I couldn't possibly understand his story or his motives. I had fond memories of him, and a few nightmares featuring his eerie voice, but within a week, he'd be nothing to me. I wouldn't even hold any hard feelings over his declaration to "get rid of me." I can't hate the man without liking him first.

Before I knew it, the lady operator of the watermill clapped me on the shoulder and called me to join the group for supper. It was pretty good: a choice of roast magikarp or taillow with sides of roasted corn and green beans.

Normally this was an environment I would have loved. The crowd that had gathered comprised the most boisterous people I'd ever met. This one guy was pretty much as big as three of me taped back-to-back, chowing down on an entire magikarp (that's twenty-two pounds of fish, minus the bones), telling a story about how this guy he worked with in the sawmill earned the nickname Three-Toed Ted. It was exactly the kind of story that would normally pump my laughter, but all I could think about was how I felt isolated and how delicious the taillow sandwich was! What was that bread: pimento loaf?

Brooke nudged me as she squatted next to me. "Cat Kong."

The sudden mental image of a giant meowth terrorizing the side of the castle in Stibium City stunned me back to reality. "What?"

"What's wrong?"

"Why would you think something's wrong?"

"You didn't say a word during dinner."

"So what?"

She was taken aback by that. "Are you kidding me? I've lived with you for fifteen years. I remember a meal in which you described every last, flavorful detail of a meal you liked better than that one. I don't even think you actually had a chance to eat before The Elder cleared the table. Plus, I've never heard you shut up for this long."

I paused for a moment. Then I simply said, "I'm sorry I ralphed on your shoes."

She shook her head and my non sequitur. "Is it Team Omega?"

"Of course it's Team Omega!" I blurted out—almost shouted. "I know you've hated them the entire time you've been on this journey, but they were my friends. Even Blade and Lauren—like the plucky couple who always fight with one another but you know that, deep down inside, they want to get married and make each other miserable for the rest of their lives." A thought sparked to life in my mind. "Maybe I can go back and apologize."

"Gus!"

"I don't _really_ want to," I replied honestly-ish. "It's just that such a dramatic change took place so suddenly. I need some time to work through it and get adjusted, okay?"

She stood up and said, "That's fair." With a punch on my shoulder, she said, "Come on. I'll show you where the inn is. Sleep will help you consolidate the events of the day."

I was reluctant to get up and follow her but did so anyway. Her suggestion did one have one valid, implied point: This was an opportunity to sleep in a real bed. Given the amount of time I'd spent using logs as pillows, it would be stupid of me to pass that up. The inn was only a bit bigger than the other houses in the settlement, leading me to think it was probably a luxury house at some point in its history before the rich owners decided they could get even richer by renting out the rooms.

The innkeeper was a burly lady with arms as wide around as my waist and coarse hair braided down each side in pigtails. Hers was such an odd look. Was she compensating for something with the little girl haircut? She asked for my "favorite" part of every stay: payment. I presented my trainer ID. A malfunction left out the sponsor code, but luckily I could recite it from memory. That's when the innkeeper came back and said, "That code is listed as a valid code for Team Omega, but you are not an authorized user."

"What? Are you sure?"

"I checked it twice. Is there any chance you have cash on you?"

Of course the sponsor code would disappear. Team Omega kicked me out. On a whim I checked my Hermes phone and found it equally dead. I was cut off. If I wouldn't help them in their ambition of dominating nature's balance, then they wouldn't help me eat or survive.

"Nothing," I said. Shrugging, I uttered, "I never needed it."

"You can stay in my room," Brooke offered. I cringed overtly, and she punched me again. "Don't be creepy. The room has four beds in it. It was intended for a much larger group of people, but I paid to have it to myself. Just don't try to watch me shower or change and there won't be a problem."

Hearing it from my _sister_; one can't imagine the _ick_ factor I felt at hearing those words. "Eww!" I uttered through the most convulsive squirming I'd ever experienced. Clara, who had fluttered around me since before dinner, perched herself on my shoulder again, thinking I was getting sick and needed her to heal me. I pointed my finger in Brooke's face and said, "I won't owe you anything. Keep your favor."

"It's not just a favor for you, Numb Nuts."

"What does that mean?"

She scoffed but remained silent. (Wisely, the innkeeper had already backed away so as never to be roped into this little dispute.) Brooke crossed her arms over her chest and began tapping her foot rapidly on the floor. That was her age-old signal that she had something to say but didn't want to. Usually that meant it was something complimentary about me—the kind of thing a sister hated saying aloud anywhere within earshot of her brother.

"It's not important," she grunted disdainfully. "The offer is there. Take it or leave it. No skin off my neck if you want to sleep outside again. It's supposed to rain tonight, but whatever."

All of the sudden, the innkeeper who had wisely kept her nose out of our business decided she had left some of her combeeswax right where we were standing. She said, "You know, you should really tell your brother how you feel."

Brooke was flustered but held her tongue since she was speaking to an elder, and someone who could deny her shelter for the night if offended greatly enough. "I beg your pardon?"

The innkeeper nodded toward me. "Tell him why you really want him to stay close to you. You two are family, and you never know when some terrible incident will break you apart. You don't need any regrets lingering as you grow older. Especially not over something small or trivial. That shouldn't separate you."

I had never seen my sister blush so heavily before, even when the Elder used to make us say "I love you" to one another just because we were a family. But to Brooke's credit, she stepped up in maturity and admitted, "I'm homesick."

"You're _what_?"

Annoyed with the way I was forcing her to say it again, she scoffed. "I'm homesick, okay? I've been on my own through this journey, and maybe it would be nice to spend some time with the only reminder of home I can get to." She muttered as she pressed her toes into the floor. "I can't exactly go home for a visit, you know?"

I knew how she felt. Even though we still fought, it was nice to see her from time to time. Like she said, it was the closest to going home I could get. But I didn't have to admit that to her! Instead, I told her all the conclusions I had come to.

"Maybe for one night, you and I can hang out. In the morning, I'll have to find something else to do with my time. It's time I quit my pokémon training."

She laughed at me—that loud, sudden kind of laugh that sounds a lot like a bark or a high-pitched hiccup. "Be serious."

"I am, thanks. What point is there in continuing a journey when I have no money and no means? I should probably free my pokémon and let them become one with nature."

"You would abandon your pokémon like that?"

I pointed at my hair, where Clara had made a nest and was ready to doze off. "Starting with that one. No sense keeping around the most depressing pokémon in history. Did you know the average life span of a spiritymph is only two weeks?"

"Yes, I read my pokédex. But Gus, that may be the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Really? And you were there when I got kicked by that miltank and couldn't talk right for two weeks." Actually, I was barely able to form a coherent thought for just one day. The other thirteen days were just me messing with everyone.

She was done with my jokes. Faster than I could see, a pokéball came from her pocket. "Fine. If you want to quit, at least you can go out like a man. Once for old time's sake? Lykos versus Regulus." A light shone in her eye. "No! Let's see Shriek take on Sigurd again. What do you say?"

I looked from her pokéball to her eye and back. "Nah. I'm okay just dropping out like a pidgey carrying an iron ball." Ignoring her incredulous stare, I skipped right past her and proceeded deeper into the inn… approximately six steps. I had to turn around when I realized I didn't know, "Which one is your room?"

* * *

><p><em>I can't believe it took me so long to update, but I'm finally back in! Everyone is a little more excited and anxious since school started back up. Be well, my wonderful readers! If you have any interest in the work I do outside of this site, let me know and I'll point you in that direction.<em>


	43. Bounce

Bounce

The Elder was surprised to see me come storming into the house. First I violated the No-Slamming-Doors policy. Actually, first I violated the No-Skipping-School policy. Okay, technically it wasn't part of school, but it was a school-related activity. Other students participated, at least. Does it count as part of school when there's no adult supervision and you never learn anything?

My initial plan was just to sneak into my room and not have to deal with any questions until supper time. But "Dear Old Dad" was busy meeting with the village council. Eight faces looked back at me when I stepped inside, pretty much destroying my delusions of stealth. I saw two options: I could (a) pretend no one could see me and slink by in a creepy way, hoping to dispel intense emotions by replacing them with curiosity, or (b) slam the door and storm up to my bedroom. The only real advantage to that option was that it matched my mood and mindset.

"Gus? What are you doing—?" The Elder asked as I slammed the door behind me. "What have I told you about slamming doors?" Given my childhood, he likely expected a snarky comeback from me. He actually looked relieved when I said nothing and continued upstairs instead. Probably just happy I wasn't going to make a scene.

I threw my bag of books on the bed and plopped down on the floor. The stereo played my music on full volume and I turned on the Nintendo for some video games. Princess Zelda wasn't going to save herself.

Who knows how long I was in there before The Elder barged in and shut off my music. "How do you call that crap 'music'?" he commented.

I answered his question with one of my own. "Don't you knock anymore?"

"Yes, I do. You'd know that if you didn't immerse yourself in dissonant sound effects to the point of deafness. Is that the backdrop to a Transformers movie?"

"It's called experimental rock."

"If you say so." He just stood there, watching me play video games. His arms were clasped together behind his back. That was his Village Elder pose. He was getting ready to lay some sage advice on me. Usually he waited for me to say something, though. Liked to know what he was getting into, basically. Never mind the fact that he could easily just ground me on the basis of leaving school early. He should just get on with it.

"Just ground me," I grumbled.

With a nod, he said, "That suggests I have a reason to ground you, Gus. What have you done wrong?"

"Well, I slammed the door."

"Hardly an offense worth grounding. I'll give you some extra chores this week and we'll be even. What else have you done?" When I didn't answer, he pushed. "Come on, Gus. You must have done something bad to think you deserve to be grounded. I know you don't enjoy it. I still have the musical you wrote to tell me so."

"I quit the team."

"Since you aren't offering a lot of information, I'll assume you meant the soccer team. What happened?"

"It doesn't matter. I quit and that's that."

His arms moved from behind his back and folded over his chest instead. Now he was in "fatherly" mode. "Poppycock."

His severely odd exclamation brought me to flinch. "Poppycock?"

"It means 'nonsense.'"

"Didn't that word die, like, thirty years ago?"

"It's a perfectly valid word."

"For old people."

"Read a book."

His quip was the last word for a few minutes. I tried to continue playing my game while he just stood there and watched me, but I knew he wouldn't leave until I told him what was going on or until he punished me.

I sighed and dropped the controller. "Are you going to tell me I'm not allowed to quit?"

"Well, that depends. Why did you quit?"

"Michelle dumped me."

The Elder just nodded. If I stood up, I could probably see his bald spot. "I'm not surprised."

"What?!" That bald geezer! "Why would you say that?"

"Gus, you kept pulling that spider prank on her. She warned you not to do it again or she'd punish you. You know the expression 'third time's the charm'?"

I narrowed my eyes at him spitefully. "That's not why she dumped me."

"Are you sure?"

"It's because Josh is bigger than I am. She's decided she likes big guys now."

"Are you sure it's not the spider prank?"

"She told me it wasn't."

"I'm sorry, Gus. But you're ten years old. You're too young to have a girlfriend, anyway. Trust me, you'll have plenty of heartache in life. A few years from now, this won't even be a bad dream to you." He had been beside me the whole time, but now he moved and leaned against the wall opposite me for a better view of my face. "And you only joined the soccer team because of her."

"Now are you going to tell me that quitting is easy?"

"Of course not. Quitting isn't always easy. Sometimes quitting is the hardest, damned thing in the world to do. There's nothing wrong with quitting something that hurts you. Sticking with it to the detriment of your mental or emotional health because of some stubborn sense of 'honor' or whatever is lunacy." He placed his hand on my shoulder and massaged it lightly. "She was your first real love. You can quit if being with her hurts that much. If you really loved soccer, you wouldn't let one failed relationship lead you to quit."

I shut down the game and sat there for a moment. Part of me wanted to run back to Michelle and win her back. Part of me just wanted to be alone. _No_ part of me wanted to go back to soccer. That game is awful!

The Elder patted me on the head as he walked out of the room. "I'll leave you alone for now. Two weeks of scrubbing the walls after school, and you help Craig with the herd on Saturday."

"What?! What's my crime?"

"Slamming the doors, plus scaring off that adorable little girl."

"I told you, it wasn't the spider prank!"

He was already on his way down the stairs. He was positioned far enough that he could yell something back at me, but he'd be too far away to hear by the time I responded. That was how he assured himself the last word. "I reduced your sentence for avoiding a public nuisance in front of the council." That was as close to a "thank you" as I came that year.

* * *

><p><em>That figures,<em> I thought to myself as my eyes adjusted. The sun was just beginning its peek over the horizon, throwing shades of pinks and oranges onto the cloudy palette. Darkness still cloaked me this early in the morning. Maybe it was the shadows, maybe it was the exhaustion, or maybe it was the roast taillow, but I slept soundly through the night. Deeply, too. So deeply that my subconscious returned to me the one person who was always there when I needed a pep talk or a grounding.

I sat up slowly and silently cursed The Elder. "You kicked me out of my home and yet you still think I want your advice, you old fogey?"

As inviting as the bed was with its warm covers and its firm, yet soft mattress and the pillows filled with swanna down, I had things to do. With no money to my name anymore, I had to make plans if I was going to survive for the foreseeable future. There had to be somewhere I could go to earn a little bit of scratch while I determined my new way in life.

My first order of business was to head into the woods and release my pokémon. If I wanted to be a CEO or a president of some sort, it was unseemly for me to carry around my pets like they were tools of war. I mean, image is everything to board members and electoral voters. A fairy on my shoulder doesn't do much to establish my manliness. You'd think a big dragon would lend credibility to me, but Elly was too young. I'd need a babysitter just to leave the nursery.

Siggy was never all that high-maintenance, so maybe it'd be okay to keep him around. Of course, he had a tendency to leave a trail of soap scum behind him and I may have a history of slipping on wet surfaces like freshly-mopped floors, wet blacktops, and greasy ladder rungs. And how seriously could I be taken with a half-man-fish waddling around behind me? Sorry, Conch, but that wasn't how corporate tycoons rolled.

I couldn't really find a fault in having an immolion, though. A big cat that spews fire on command? Talk about the intimidation factor! "You don't like my proposal? Well, sorry I couldn't read yours. There was a fire in the boardroom yesterday and only your report got incinerated." Yeah, that would be fun!

"What are you doing?" I turned with a start to see Brooke's approach. She was dressed in her usual khaki shorts-lemon T-shirt combo, but she mixed things up a little by tying a red bandana around her hair to keep it under control. She was accompanied by a large, almost bipedal canine pokémon covered with spiky, blue fur. Admittedly, as intimidating as a fiery lion could be, a dousing wolf was also pretty beastly.

"I was just… you, know… thinking about stuff," I said. Nice recovery!

"Not about releasing your pokémon," she replied. Yes, it was more of a statement than a question.

"Possibly. Maybe pokémon trainer isn't the right career path for me. I think I'd make a good businessman, though."

"You couldn't even figure out the growth/decay formula in math class."

"Exponents are hard!"

She held up her hands as if to support a defensive barrier between us. "Whatever. Are you ready to battle me yet?" Lykos growled at me and Reggie. It wasn't a full snarl, though; it generally seemed like a competitive request.

"Not even a little bit."

"Are you sure?"

"Usually. Not like me to doubt my decisions."

"No, it isn't, Mr. Waterfalls-Aren't-Dangerous." She sighed and looked to her pokémon for moral support. We let a moment of silence pass between us before she said, "Just promise me one thing: Don't release any of your pokémon until we battle first."

"That's weird," I admitted. "Why not?"

"Because you can't quit unless you prove you're good enough."

"What? That makes no sense whatsoever."

"Wrong! If you want to make a stupid decision that could ruin your life, you have to prove you are mature enough to do so and have a firm grasp of what you're giving up."

I shook my head. "If anything, losing a battle to you should prove that I'm not good enough to continue and that quitting is the _right_ thing to do. You've got to quit whatever hurts, right?"

"It doesn't matter what you think. That's not part of the agreement." She turned away and continued talking to me as she headed back toward the mill. "Now come on. I'm taking you out today."

"You can't just walk away and continue talking like that just because your dad did it all the time!" I shouted.

"I can't hear you," she shouted back. "Let's go! Those roller coasters won't ride themselves."

My ears perked up, and I couldn't even control those muscles. "Roller coasters?" I stumbled through the brush behind her. "Where are we going?" I repeated myself when that time she couldn't hear me under the incredible crunching of dried leaves as I traipsed through the trees with all the grace of a landlocked wailord.

"I'm taking my brother out for a day at the amusement park," she explained. "Are you in?"

"Are we going on all the roller coasters?"

She made a face. "Duh."

"Will you win me a giant squirtle at the ring toss?"

A shrug. "You were never any good at those games. Sure."

"Will you buy me fried cheese and cotton candy for lunch?"

This time she made a completely different face. "Not if I have to be the one to bury your dead body."

"You afraid I'll be gassy?"

"You're awake, aren't you?"

"Touché."

And so we went to the amusement park. Stibium City hosted the biggest roller coasters in the region. Many of them were unique in one way or another. The Maelstrom was shaped like the world's longest gyarados, and it was aptly named. Not only were there countless twists and spins and time spent upside-down, but we also roared through an underwater tunnel for some of that time. I loved it and wanted to go again, but Brooke was less impressed. She was more impressed with The Giratina, one of two wooden roller coasters onsite. That one was crazy long. It lasted five minutes from start to finish, including time for two chain lifts, plus the second half of the ride started with tracks forming sequential helixes. I almost threw up on that one!

The fastest regional roller coaster was there, too. The Yellow Flash was freaking amazing! You get inside a roller coaster car that's shaped like a jolteon and go super fast. Of course, Brooke and I waited in line to get into the front of the car. When you're going two hundred miles per hour, you don't want a lot of other people in front ruining your view. The ride moves forward a short way, and then it stops like there's something wrong. A bunch of people thought maybe the ride broke when the ride suddenly shot forward like releasing a slingshot! It took only three seconds to reach top speed. And then we went practically straight up, with a short twist on the way, only to swing around at the top and face the ground dead-on. For an instant, I felt weightless! But gravity took its hold and pulled the car even faster than before, straight down to the ground.

We both stopped in our tracks momentarily when we saw the Harmonia. The cars were themed on Clendine, the legendary mermaid pokémon that was said to have influenced the evolution of marine life in the region. It was the pokémon that got us expelled from our home into a life of exile. The ride was remarkably smooth despite all the twists and turns and rises and falls. Perhaps the smoothest I'd ever experienced. It was not unlike the grace of Clendine herself.

While waiting in line to get on the Deoxys, I asked Brooke about the donphan in the room. "What do you know about Clendine?"

"Not much," she answered. "I don't even know much about Gnomoder."

"You don't talk to him?" She glanced around quickly, checking to see if anyone overheard. "No one's listening to us. The park is too loud."

She accepted that. "I tried talking to him, but he gibbers in some language I don't understand. I had hoped to get some information from him, but no such luck."

"Too bad. Clendine also muttered in some foreign language. There goes the idea of getting information straight from the ponyta's mouth."

"No, it's smarter to get information from the library in Ferrum City or go visit the Pokémon Professor in Hydrargyrum City. Personally, I don't need to know anything about their history for me to go rescue more from Team Omega. I knew those guys were bad news from the moment I saw them."

When I didn't respond, she let it drop. She would never apologize for saying something she knew to be true, but at least she was willing not to rub my past with them in my face. "Seriously, you should help me fight them."

"That's not my problem anymore," I retorted.

"It'll be everyone's problem eventually."

Finally fed up with her, I asked, "How do you even know they're evil? Just because they lie, steal, and have super powers?"

"They're not aliens or anything," she clarified. "Those people have control aura."

"What is aura?"

"It's the essence of every living creature."

After a brief pause, I poked my finger in my ear and pretended to clean it out. "Did I go deaf suddenly or did you only give half of the answer?"

"I don't really understand it. Some guy tried to explain it to me but it was over my head. Something about biological makeup affecting how people's bodies work. A genetic mutation causes someone to produce excess body heat, so he expels it like fire. It only affects something like .03% of the population, but those freaks end up with Team Omega in increased numbers. Powers like that come in handy when you're trying to conquer the world."

I didn't like the sound of that. Sure, it was a possibility, but conquering the world? That was too simple to be Valence's real plan. As prevalent as his team members were—even part of the Marshals service, the prime law enforcement division of Perioble—did he really need to pursue a mere legend in order to take control of the country?

Distracted through the Deoxys ride, I probably couldn't tell you the plot with any level of detail. I'm pretty sure it went like this, though: Deoxys invaded Earth, we needed to help stop him, the car shook a lot, and everyone was saved when Deoxys got captured by the regional champ Nelson.

Brooke asked, "Where do you want to go next?"

"I'm ready to battle you," I answered.

She didn't need to be told twice. The park wasn't really designed for pokémon battling, but we managed to find an area in the corner near the parking lot where there were no booths and foot traffic was minimal. We'd have at it with a full lineup. Brooke and I were rival trainers from the same small village, after all. We deserved no less from one another. But in the interest of keeping the battle as quick and low-key as we could manage, we each pinned our pride on our starter pokémon.

"Remember," said Brooke. "You need to beat me before you're good enough to quit training."

"Sounds simple enough," I replied. "Let's do it."

Actually, I had every reason to expect a difficult battle. Reggie looked strong and lean. His normally-stringy mane was especially silky down the back of his neck. The hair on his forehead spiked forward and shone like dying embers. Lykos looked good, too. His fur was trimmed and sleek, proving how well Brooke took care of him. Blues colored the fur just above each foot, around his head and neck, and at the tip of his tail. His body weight was disproportionately shifted toward his haunches like he was ready to stand upright at any moment. The end of his tail even looked like a water cannon.

"That's going to be tricky," I muttered. "We're going to have to fight tactically."

Brooke gave Lykos similar advice. "Don't underestimate them just because we have the type advantage. Start with Aqua Ring." Lykos shook wildly and spread moisture into the air around his body. The moisture condensed into a ring of water that hovered around his torso.

Strategy was key. That was what Kelly always said. If Aqua Ring was going to keep Lykos going strong, then I needed something to keep him feeling down. "Use Will-O-Wisp!" Reggie bared his teeth tightly for a moment. He coughed up three intangible balls of fire that swirled through the air and surrounded Lykos like a flaming ring. The water doused the fire and smoldered it, but at the same time, the intensity of the fire evaporated the healing ring and turned it to vapor.

Hmm. That's not a bad idea!

"Smokescreen!" I shouted. Reggie spewed a billowing cloud of black smoke. We both knew fire attacks wouldn't be very effective. The next best strategy was to blind him to a physical assault.

"Bubblebeam!" A stream of bubbles spewed from Lykos's mouth. Though it wasn't a perfect counter, each bubble popped inside the smokescreen and pushed the smoke upward.

And when the smoke cleared, Lykos got a face full of Take Down! Reggie plowed into him at full speed. They both tumbled over and rolled across the concrete, but they both bounced back to their feet. Lykos was clearly taken by surprise, and so was Brooke. I knew she'd try to clear the smokescreen, but she didn't know I knew she would, and that gave me the edge.

"Water Pulse!" Of course, Lykos still held the advantage overall. He barked out a ring of water that encircled Reggie and drenched his entire body. I could see him shudder in pain, but he resisted showing it… just like we practiced.

I remembered the two rings combining into vapor. "Flame Charge!" Steam poured into the air as Reggie's body temperature spiked and flames burst all across his fur. Now his body expelled vapor as he rapidly dried.

Brooke couldn't believe her eyes. "Wait. How did he—?"

"Fire Fang!" Reggie's flaming body shot forward like a cannonball aimed straight for Lykos and his supple neck muscles.

"Water Pulse!" Lykos defended himself by spewing another ring of water at Reggie. But thanks to our training with Conch and Blaze, Reggie was able to shake off the pain better than the average immolion. The flaming fur helped keep the water from reaching his skin. Much of it evaporated instantly, but still the flame surrounding his body faded in the moisture.

Call the attacks a draw, but Reggie still had the momentum when he and Lykos were inches apart. Since the flames died down, I called for a slight adjustment in the attack. "Crunch!" Running at high velocity, Reggie opened wide his jowls and clamped down tightly around Lykos's neck. The two wrestled for a moment with Lykos trying to break free and Reggie holding firm. With one misplaced step, the lupeddy stumbled and hit the ground awkwardly. In that moment, Brooke withdrew her pokémon into its pokéball.

Reggie hit the ground when his quarry disappeared, but he was right back up. His gaze darted from side to side as he looked for his prey, but none appeared. Instead, he looked to me for guidance. I shook my head and reached into my pocket for a Potion. "There's no one else to fight, buddy," I told him. He bounded over to me when he saw the Potion and assumed the position. I spray the healing salve onto his fur and rubbed it in around his neck and face. "You did well."

My sister looked downright ticked off. "I can't believe you beat me," she grumbled. "You know I was going easy on you, right?"

"Of course you were," I said, humoring her. She knew I disagreed with her, but she let it slide.

"Whatever. I guess now you want to quit training, huh?"

Before I could answer, a single spectator approached us. At first he was visible through no more than the corner of my eye. But I recognize his voice when he said, "Quit? How preposterous. Neither of you is likely to quit when you battle like that."

"Tony?" I turned to look. Sure enough, the Golden Skier from the ski slopes was standing there, applauding my victory. He was dressed in an orange shirt with yellow hibiscus flowers drawn on and a pair of khaki shorts. It was a far cry from the full snow suit I saw him wear in Argentum. He was better suited to the shorts, though. His legs had a reasonable tan, and his calves were well developed, like the leg muscles on a tauros. It was no wonder he never fell while skiing!

"I still prefer Anthony," said Tony. "More importantly, that was an impressive duel. Rarely have I seen someone battle against such a steep type disadvantage and emerge victorious through sheer cleverness. It was truly a feat worthy of a trainer who is mastering his craft." He cleared his throat and blushed slightly. "I apologize for getting carried away with myself. In case you had not noticed, I wish to dissuade you from attempting to quit your journey."

"What?" Though my face was probably a rock, I was dumbstruck. "How do you know about that?"

He motioned toward Brooke. "Why, Brooke informed me of the whole situation and asked that I come speak with you."

"Really? How do you know Brooke?"

Tony chuckled. "Is it not obvious?" He and she looked at one another with a shared grin. "My company owns this amusement park and uses the funds to sponsor her as a pokémon trainer. Plus, she is my half-sister."

I had a comeback, I think, but it… "She… What?"

Brooke put her arm around Tony and the two held their faces close. "You don't recognize him?" she asked me.

It took a moment, but my brain was able to piece together the clues. Take away his stylish hair, remove the wispy mustache, and mash his face so the skin loosens and forms wrinkles… and he turned into The Elder! He really was The Elder's firstborn—his only blood child.

"Brooke's real brother?" I repeated. "Geez. I haven't seen you since…"

"Since you were three years old," he finished for me. "I left home shortly after my mother's passing. But I am surprised you didn't recognize me from any of the pictures in your household. After all, you were raised by my father."

"Do you even remember the man?" asked Brooke. "He was not the sentimental type. The only pictures hanging in that house are of his personal youth, of our mother, and the village. Even Gus and I didn't warrant space on that mantle." Not sentimental? That was understating things. He did exile his own children from the village, after all.

Tony nodded slowly. "How sad. But on to brighter news. Gus, I wish to extend an offer on my company's behalf. In exchange for sponsoring the remainder of your journey, we will boast of your accomplishments and use our association to earn more money. The publicity may earn you a reputation as something of a celebrity given enough time, but more importantly, your continued performance will earn you the money you need to travel. Are you interested?"

I had to pause and think about it. In my wildest dreams, I hadn't expected to bounce back from utter defeat so quickly. "Are you offering only because I'm kind of your brother?"

"Of course not. You have already proven you are a capable trainer. I simply wish to see where you can go with it. Will you rise to the level of a Gym Leader, or will you remain a vagrant for your entire life? Or will you perhaps achieve the impossible goal and be crowned Pokémon Champion of Perioble?" He extended his hand as if the offer were within his palm. Team Omega didn't offer the only road to being a Pokémon Master.

I stared for a moment as I considered it. But that was for show. I already knew my answer. "On one condition: Can you pull rank to walk us straight to the front of the next Yellow Flash ride?"

Tony huffed and looked away briefly. "Oh, Gus. I would never abuse my ownership of these rides in such a way." Just as disappointment set in, he added, "You must ride Yellow Flash in the _back_ seat. The G-forces are much greater there. You could well black out, but the intensity of the experience is worth it."

A grin pulled across my face from ear to ear. "Deal!" We shook on it. After all, I was told that if you love something that much, you can't let one failed relationship stop you.

* * *

><p><em>This chapter was sort of a redemption chapter. Gus felt the sting of betrayal and managed to recover thanks to friends he didn't realize were there all along. In the next chapter, we'll head to the Monster Gym to learn a few new techniques for Siggy and Conch. Stibium City hides a dark secret, and Gus is about to learn the hard way the struggles of the human heart.<em>

_**Trivia:** In my mind, Anthony looks and speaks just like Cary Elwes._


	44. Eruption

Eruption

The Monster Gym, located across almost all of Stibium City's westernmost district, was the most intense, singular building I had ever seen in my life. Occupying at least forty acres of land, I had been going there to study their techniques and grow some of my pokémon who fit the characteristics of the _monster_ class for a full seven days, and I'm certain I still hadn't seen everything the place had to offer. I can't even adequately outline the floor plan.

On Day 1 after registering and paying my entrance fee with the new bank account I received from Tony, I entered the gym alongside Siggy through the northeastern entrance near the sandwich shop where I'd had lunch. My first encounter was with a narrow hallway that spiraled gradually into a split of two directions. At no point did I see a map or directory of any kind. Instantly I drew the conclusion that this gym was intentionally labyrinthine. Either that or I'd stumbled into the wrong place. Just when I was thinking of the Monster Gym as sharing its gimmick with the Mineral Gym of Cuprum Town, I tripped some kind of trap that caused a boulder to come down toward my head. Fortunately I had the grace and wherewithal to trip and fall to the side, and Siggy Foamy Punched that sucker into debris the second it hit the ground. One of the other trainers chanced upon seeing it and warned me that I was supposed to have my pokémon lead _me_ through the traps and use their techniques to keep _them_ safe.

Day 2 wasn't a lot better. Conch and I found ourselves running away from a buzz saw that tore through the floor up and down a hallway in cycles. After a trainer coaxed his snorlax into stopping the buzz saw, I realized it was just a non-lethal, spinning wheel, but it still scared the fool out of me.

I felt like we were getting the hang of things on Day 3. I was proven wrong when Siggy and I found ourselves in a dead-end in front of a real-life treasure chest! The thought never even occurred to me that no sane person would keep real treasure out in the open like that. As soon as I opened it, two cubones and a marowak jumped out and attacked. Elly's iron hide saved the day while she subdued all three attackers simultaneously, but she obtained a few bruises and nasty contusions from their ground attacks. It was a rough experience.

Perhaps Day 4 was the first time I got the impression there was actual training going on at the gym. Siggy, Conch, and Elly all got plenty of training time in with folks who were training a pupitar, a bastiodon, a lickitung, and a bergmite. I was surprised how much faster my pokémon moved than usual. Even Siggy, whose body was as nimble as a wet biscuit, side-stepped attacks at opportune moments to land critical strikes where he might have once struggled with timing. Was it possible the paranoia brought on by all the traps was making us quicker to react?

Not necessarily, and I learned that on Day 5. We entered a room with five statues: a charizard, an ampharos, a swampert, a meganium, and a haxorus. At first glance, I was convinced they were nothing more than artistic excellence. I mean, the craftsmanship was exquisite! The detail was so precise as to make each creature appear terrifying and ominous. I should have taken my cue from that. When I stepped up for a closer look—fine; I charged them like an excited toddler—the charizard began to spew flames at me. A little singed, maybe, but never the worse for wear, I had Conch try to douse the flames before they could be a threat. Instantly the meganium statue came to Charizard's rescue! It was insane how that leaf shield absorbed all the water and managed to attack my fishtain at the same time! Any guesses what happened if I tried to attack _that_ statue? No, it didn't start singing _Hello, My Baby_. Getting closer, but no, my missing math homework from geometry didn't come back. Wouldn't you know, the answer was as simple as Elly barreling into the room and thrashing about until all the statues fell from their pedestals. Just as I suspected!

Day 6 was another "reflexes" day. As if it weren't enough to deal with Falling Boulders of Doom and Spinning Buzz Saws of Split Ends, we also had to deal with Swinging Maces of Headaches. Seriously, one brand new hallway I'd not yet traversed contained a series of low-hanging maces—the ball-and-chain kind—soaring back and forth through the air like the most painful grandfather clock ever built. Three were staged side-by-side so Siggy and I couldn't just sidle around them. If we managed to pass those, there were three more just a few feet behind them. The second set was counterbalanced so my ability to time the first set didn't mean squat!

Glancing at Siggy, I asked, "Are they seriously trying to kill people here?"

That was before we found the poison gas trap on Day 7. At that point, I was ready to curl up into a ball and cry. Was there even a Gym Leader in this place? I'd heard rumors of one. Several of the trainers I ran into even claimed they challenged him at one time. They described him as such a giant that his head "reached the stars" and that his wingspan could reach "the east _and_ the west." Poetic, sure, and potential for an epic play, but highly unlikely. Maybe one day I'd even find my way through the unending line of traps to find myself on his doorstep.

Suddenly it struck me. The answer, again, had been right there in front of me. If he was hiding from most challengers until they proved themselves worthy, then he was hiding behind the most difficult traps! All I had to do was take whichever path most made me want to scream and I was sure to find him!

By no means have I listed here every trap my pokémon and I encountered. From spiked ceilings that slowly descended toward me in a locked room to secret passages actually hidden within wall panels to false floors that dropped us straight into wide pitfalls, I feel confident that we experienced everything there was that could possibly sneak up on us… except possibly lightning sand or fire spurts, but we were probably safe from that whilst indoors.

Oh, and there were, of course, Omega Grunts every once in a while. It didn't surprise me to see them wandering around. This city was their base of operations, after all. And many of them did not personally wield biological magic attacks like Lauren and Hoodie Harry did. No, the average Omega Grunt needed legitimate pokémon training, too, so why not take advantage of the local pokémon gym? I'll bet they even got fleet-rate discounts on memberships!

And yet, I still made a point to hide whenever I saw them. It was unlikely they were looking for me, but the possibility remained. Brooke had warned me of it earlier.

"I wouldn't recommend going to the Stibium Gym," she'd told me. "It could be flooded with members of Team Omega out looking for you. Even a single challenge against the Gym Leader would be plenty of time for them to swarm."

"I won't be able to complete the circuit without a badge from there," I'd replied. "Besides, no one will notice me. I'll register under a fake name."

She'd glowered at me. "So you'll just challenge Tyrone and do nothing else?"

"Who's Tyrone?"

She'd smacked me. Even in hindsight it hurt. "You don't know anything, do you?! He's the leader of the freakin' gym you want to challenge! He uses pokémon with monster characteristics! They say he's huge and can do all the same things his pokémon can do."

I'd paused. "Does he have the same powers as Fey and Harry did outside the Omega Castle?"

"I think he just teaches his pokémon physical moves that he can do, too. He's well-known as a Move Tutor."

"What's a Move Tutor?"

She'd smacked me again. "You don't know anything, do you?!" Apparently my ignorance was unbecoming a promising Pokémon Trainer.

But my greater characteristic was tenacity. A few Omega Grunts weren't enough to scare me off. A Stibium Badge was necessary for my journey's continuation. Well, technically, I could continue, but I would eventually hit a wall. If I was going to oppose Team Omega on my terms, I needed to qualify for the Pokémon League. That was the best way for me to fight back.

And so there I was, enduring innovative and frustrating traps intended to hunt weak prey without wasting the hunter's time. But these traps wouldn't stop me. For all intents and purposes, I was puncture-proof, I had X-ray vision, and I would never again open a treasure chest in a dungeon brimming with traps. Such pitfalls were for amateurs.

"Well, well. Look what the conflacat dragged in." I found myself before two men and a woman dressed in white clothes. Each set was marked by matching silver boots, gloves, and a short mantle that put a single wing on their backs. The one-winged pokémon trainers were the costumes of Team Omega. "That looks like the kid we were told to keep an eye out for," said one of the men.

I braced myself for battle. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Guarding the door while the boss talks to Tyrone," said the woman. The men shot her a rotten glare, and she immediately backtracked. "I mean, uh… We're looking for you, ya criminal!"

"If you're looking for me, you'll me through that door challenging the Gym Leader."

With a laugh, the second guy said, "Not unless you get past us!" Whipping a pokéball from his side, he shouted, "Go, Meganium!" With a flash, a six-foot-tall sauropod with reptilian skin popped into the tunnel. It had curious eyes and a mane like petals of a flower. Following his lead, the first guy opened his pokéball to reveal a sceptile named Sceptile. It was the same lizard pokémon with frond-like limbs that I had seen the regional Champ use to battle Long.

Though my first instinct against grass-types was to summon Reggie, my mind had been on studying monster pokémon for the past week, so I let Elly come out to play.

What I didn't plan for was both guys attacking at once with their pokémon. Leaf Storms and Petal Dances flurried around my steel dragon. The simultaneously storms were blinding, and I could only imagine how devastating they were, pummeling Elly's body.

"Twister!" I called to her. It was challenge enough to hear my own voice when I shouted, and part of me doubted whether Elly could hear me through the maelstrom. But she did. Draconic energy swirled around her body, running counterclockwise against the clockwise grass attacks. Within seconds, she had a small buffer that dispelled the attacks against her as her personal Twister gave her protection.

"Add Dragon Rush!" Still guarded by the Twister, Elly dashed toward her attackers at great speed. The narrow tunnel provided little room to avoid her as she collided with Meganium and Sceptile simultaneously. The collision alone may not normally have been enough to knock out those two reasonably powerful pokémon, but they also suffered from the pummeling effects of Elly's Twister and their own Leaf Storm and Petal Dance. All totaled, Elly emerged victorious.

The guys were both shocked. "You can't be serious!" They looked torn between wanting to run away and feeling compelled to stay and impede my progress.

"Don't worry," the woman said. She stepped up and cracked her knuckles. "I got this." She dropped a pokéball and opened up a venusaur to the battlefield. I had seen one of those before. Old Max's venusaur had been so much older, though, and looked as stout as a boulder. This one was younger and still had room to grow. "Use Poison Powder!" she commanded. The venusaur shook its backside and spread into the air a shimmering array of spores that gave the misty air an almost purple hue.

"You've got to be kidding me," one of the guys grumbled. "You can't use poison attacks against a dragmor. It's a steel pokémon! They're immune to poison!"

The woman gasped. "Really? Oops!"

I almost felt bad beating up a venusaur with a helpless trainer. "Elly, use Dragon Claw." My dragmor brought up her mighty paw. When she flexed, her claws spread like an umbrella of knives. Using all her body weight, she slammed her claw down across the venusaur. The woman Omega Grunt withdrew her pokémon before she could even determine with certainty how much damage the beast had suffered.

"We weren't warned about a dragon pokémon," one guy claimed. "We've got to warn the boss!" All three grunts exited the tunnel and ran up a nearby slope.

"Good work, Elly," I said as I patted my dragmor affectionately right at the base of her tail.

But then I noticed that she didn't look well. Elly's breathing was shallow. She looked to be fighting against gravity. When I worried the poison was getting to her after all, her body began to shine brightly.

"Oh. Sweet!" She was finally evolving!

There was one little downside to evolving in that narrow tunnel, and I didn't realize it until Elly's body suddenly expanded by five hundred pounds. Her scales turned deep red—like a dirty shade of violet—and I got a real good look at them when they pressed me into the tunnel wall. The rocks digging into my kidneys really wasn't such a bad sensation compared with the time I fell off the waterfall, but I worried what having permanent pockets in my spine would do to my posture. Try as I might, Elly's pokéball was out of reach with my arms pinned like they were.

"Hey, Elly," I grunted through clenched lungs. Her scaly ears perked up at the sound of my strained voice. "It's great that you finally evolved into a wyrmnir and I'm super excited about it, but I have become a fan of breathing over these fifteen years. It would please me greatly if you could squish yourself away from me just long enough to get us out of this predicament." I'd never been happier for her level of intelligence as the pressure relieved almost completely from my chest. I slid to the floor and immediately flipped her pokéball up at her, recalling her even more massive form into a handful of electromagnetic energy.

Taking a moment for recovery, I breathed in deeply for a few.

My moment's reprieve complete, I looked up and said rhetorically, "Now, where was I?"

I followed the passage taken by those three Grunts. From the first step I was no longer in a cavernous tunnel, but instead in an actual stairwell. These were stairs carved purposefully into the sloping tunnel, which transitioned quickly into genuine brick walls. It was like ascending from the unfinished basement to the first-floor apartment. Or maybe the first-floor gymnasium. The ceiling of the room was high, and the walls were wide apart, though there were climbing walls that looked like the same limestone underground.

The three Grunts scrambled out of the room through an exit door in the back. They weren't looking at me with those expressions of fright, though. Their gazes lay upon a tall, bulky man with dark skin and a shaved head. His body was covered by a blue tank top and nylon jogging pants. He looked like he could have been a linebacker—pretty much the closest a human gets to looking like a monster pokémon.

"That'll teach you grunts to invade my gym," he grumbled to himself as he looked over to me. He put on one of those big-guy grins that's meant to intimidate while making you feel friendly. "I see I finally have a legitimate challenger make his way through all my traps and into my gym. Greetings! I'm Tyrone, Gym Leader of the Stibium Monster Gym."

For just a second, I set my mind at ease. Now that I reached the gym leader's chamber, surely there were no more traps before me, right? But my acute vision noticed separations in the floor where we were sure to find trap doors opening into whatever basement was below us. Probably back into the tunnels of the gym itself. I also made note of a few panels on the brick floor that were ever-so-slightly discolored relative to the ones around them. It wouldn't surprise me to find trip wires spider-webbed between the climbing walls, either.

"According to your registration," said Tyrone, wracking his brain for an answer, "you must be Copernicus. Am I right?"

"Of course!" I said, instantly remembering the fake name I used at registration. "That's an impressive memory for a gym leader who must have so many people come through for training."

He wasn't humble. He accepted my compliment with a short bow. "Well, I just ran three miscreants out of my gym. You aren't here to cause trouble, too, are you?"

"Just the usual trouble: I want a gym badge."

"Let's see you earn it, then. The way I battle is three-on-three, one pokémon at a time per battle. The only trick is a pokémon can't leave the fight and then come back. That means when my first pokémon beats your first and then has a disadvantage against your second, I can't switch him out without withdrawing him from the match completely. Get it? Are you ready?"

"I think so."

"Good. Then let's go, Claws!" His first pokémon was a fraxure, a three-foot dragon that ate an airplane and got the tail rudders caught in his teeth. Seriously though, they were tusks that were tough enough to make it worth looking so ridiculous. It was a fierce and strong pokémon to start things off.

My first instinct was to start with Elly, but her evolution was brand new. I didn't know how she'd respond to me now. It would also be a gamble to say she would be capable already. Such a dramatic change in a moment's time means her body might not respond the way she expects it to. I could end up with a tragedy on my hands.

Elly could be my desperation gamble at the end of the match if I needed her. For now, Siggy was never a bad call. "Come on out, my slimy little golfoam!" Good ol', reliable Siggy came out locked and loaded, frothing more than usual. The past few days of traps and monster trainers psyched him up for another gym match. Fraxure would be a tough opponent for a stoic golfoam, but I had a plan that would play well to Siggy's strengths.

"This should be easy," Tyrone laughed. "Claws, use Dragon Claw!"

_Bingo!_

The wide-tusked dragon braced himself like a relay runner and then took off, moving at impressive speed for having stubby legs like that. Even though it stood upright before battle, the fraxure bent down on all fours to increase his speed and, more importantly, his power.

"Focus Energy, Siggy!" He took one step back and braced himself just like the fraxure had a moment earlier. I wanted him prepared when I called the real attack.

When he was on top of Siggy, the aptly-named Claws thrashed forward with one of his paws and slashed into Siggy's heavy foam. The tips of his nails may have scratched through to their target, but as I expected, Siggy's foam was too thick for him to take the brunt of the attack.

"Mirror Move!" Winding up his focused attack, Siggy lashed out with his foaming hands taking on the same shape as the dragon's claws and mimicking perfectly the energy behind the attack. It was the same as it Claws had been struck by another dragon, but more intensely because Siggy had focused his attack into a critical strike! The fraxure flew several feet before bouncing off the ground.

"That was unexpected," Tyrone admitted. "Right off the bat, I underestimated you."

"A little bit of that was luck," I admitted coyly.

"A lot of it was," Tyrone protested. So humble! "But the next fight will be different." He withdrew his fraxure and pulled another pokéball. "Claws was just a warmup in order to feel you out as a trainer. Now you have to take on J.J." When the second pokéball opened, it revealed a kangaskhan. It was a marsupial pokémon with a few external bones that looked a lot like armor.

Another normal-type pokémon, just like Siggy. The same strategy definitely wouldn't work twice. Luckily Siggy was still focused on battling. If my lucky held, he would still hit with more precision than I would ever be capable of. Maybe he'd be capable of taking down that kangaskhan by himself!

Tyrone shouted, "Comet Punch!"

To which I replied, "Foamy Punch!"

Siggy's initial wind-up was interrupted when J.J. hit him the first time. That kangaskhan moved so quickly, though! He struck four times with his arms a blur, each time shoving Siggy along the floor and then hopping back to land another quick strike. J.J. was so strong, and fast, too. Each new strike came from another position so that Siggy wouldn't know where to defend. But Siggy was focused on his opponent and had amazing instincts. By the time the fourth punch landed, he was sturdy enough to withstand the attack and push past it. Through sheer will, he thrust his foaming fist upward into J.J.'s chin, finally providing some separation between the two bodies.

The two were positioned between the climbing walls now. I wondered how I could use that to our advantage, but Siggy wasn't much of a climber. Perhaps if he had been a sceptile or a charmeleon he could scale the walls well and take the higher ground. Or even a loudred could take advantage of the amplified acoustics brought by bouncing his shrieks off the walls. Of course, that meant Tyrone's pokémon probably knew how to use the terrain to their advantage already, as J.J. was about to demonstrate.

"Use Dizzy Punch!" said Tyrone.

J.J. first hopped away from Siggy, but then he bounced from one wall all the way to the other wall—a distance of at least fifteen feet!—and he kept bouncing around in angles so that Siggy had to keep looking over his shoulder to know where his opponent was. It was dizzying for me just to watch. I couldn't imagine how Siggy felt.

The second that kangaskhan pointed himself downward, I yelled, "Foamy Punch!" J.J. shot through the air like an arrow pointed straight at Siggy's head. My golfoam whipped his Foamy Punch into position just as he was knocked over by the weight and force of a kangaskhan. J.J. took the hit, but I think the force was reduced thanks to his knocking over my pokémon at the same time.

I was surprised when Siggy got back up. "You're a fighter," I said proudly. But Siggy's posture was off. He wobbled from one side to the other, unsure how to stand.

"I'm sure you can guess," Tyrone said, "but that Dizzy Punch that J.J. just delivered actually made your pokémon dizzy. He won't be any good to you. Personally, I'd recall him before he gets a real beating."

He was right. Siggy was in no shape to continue the fight. And he was wobbling awfully close to one of the trap doors I noticed. "You worked so hard," I told him as I pulled him back into his pokéball. It was Conch's turn to run things now. In a flash, my fishtain joined the field, right in the middle of the climbing walls where I had returned Siggy.

Tyrone was sure pleased with himself. Conch was almost as slow as Siggy. Timing the strike against the bouncy kangaskhan was tricky. Odds were pretty good Conch would get hit first. But maybe there was another way we could time an attack.

"Dizzy Punch!" Once again, J.J. took the high ground, bouncing back and forth between the walls until he was ready to land another dizzying strike.

"Fish Kick… the floor!"

"What?"

Tyrone may have been confused, but I knew exactly where Conch was standing. With J.J. hurtling through the air like a missile, Conch flipped over and kicked the floor with his heels. The trap door triggered and opened wide. J.J.'s trajectory wasn't originally going to take him into the trap, but Conch's kick cracked the floor a little wider. Now when that Comet Punch touched the ground, it crumbled and dropped all the weight of that pokémon into the pitfall below. I don't care how well it can bounce: There was no way it could take a beating like that and then hop its way out. Besides, the hole opened up into a tunnel with no walls. How would it even begin to climb out? Tyrone had no choice but to recall J.J.

"You're clever," Tyrone admitted to me. "I never thought you'd get this far. I guess it's time for my trump card: Come out, Randall!" I wasn't sure what it was at first, but my pokédex helped me identify Randall as a heliolisk—a bipedal lizard with a frilled neck and electrical properties. In other words, it was a really poor opponent for Conch.

"You like this guy?" Tyrone asked when I was done playing with my pokédex. Randall had jumped straight to the climbing wall and scaled halfway up, sticking to it as easily as an ariados. "I got him on my travels to the Kalos region. Quite a different place, if you ever get a chance to go."

"You travel a lot, do you?" I asked.

"Some," he admitted. "Gym Leader and all, I got to keep educated. I'm also not easy to distract. Thunderbolt!" The frills on Randall's neck began twittering as he built up an electrical charge.

"Crap. Aqua Jet!" Conch looked down at his feet and spewed a strong, focused stream of water straight at the ground. The force propelled his body through the air on trajectory to collide with the heliolisk, who thought he was safe so high above the ground. Just before colliding, Conch stopped spewing and flipped over, finishing with a Fish Kick-like move. The attack peeled Randall from the wall and dropped him to the floor. His body made a good cushion for Conch to land on, but that also made it even easier than usual for the electricity from his attack to flood into my fishtain. The spark was intense when my fishtain's body was thrown back into the other climbing wall.

"That was good," Tyrone admitted. "Not bad for a water type." He wasn't kidding. Conch was less spry than usual, but he was still raring for battle. "Randall, Charge!"

"Charge?" I repeated. It really didn't warrant an explanation, though. The frills on Randall's neck repeatedly twitched as the heliolisk built up even more electricity than it had before using Thunderbolt. "Try Water Pulse!" Taking a moment to breathe, Conch coughed up a single ring of water that was much less impressive outside of a water battle. It caused Randall's charge to stutter for only a second before the heliolisk was back at it.

"You'll love this one," Tyrone said with a laugh. "Use Parabolic Charge, but do it up close!"

If that sounds cruel, trust me that it looked awful. Randall leaped down from the wall and landed on top of my sluggish fishtain. Frills spread wide in a menacing manner, the beast unleashed so much electricity into Conch's body that the two of them probably generated enough power to run the Team Omega castle for a week.

It was little surprise that Conch didn't stand up after that attack. "Why did you think I would like that?" I asked Tyrone. "Just because the sparks are kind of pretty?"

"No," he said. "It's because using that move recharges Randall's fighting spirit. Pretty much, he absorbs the damage he dealt to your pokémon as endurance for himself."

I looked at the woozy heliolisk. "He doesn't look refreshed. He looks ready to faint."

"No, it can't be," Tyrone said, but he didn't sound too certain. We both watched for only a moment before Randall face-planted into the gym floor. I'm sure if he were a cartoon animal, his eyes would have been swirls. Tyrone walked into the arena and checked out his pokémon. "How did you do that?"

I shrugged. "Beats me." I withdrew Conch before any permanent injuries could settle in. "I guess that means I win, though, right? That's three pokémon you've withdrawn."

Well, technically he hadn't withdrawn Randall yet, but he was going to. He had no choice when his pokémon was unconscious. But Tyrone sure looked resistant. He grumbled something under his breath and stood up, recalling Randall into the pokéball.

"Do not hold harsh judgment," spoke an eerie, ghastly voice. "The boy and his pokémon are strong. He deserves your Antimony Badge."

I accepted the round badge Tyrone whipped from his pocket, but I was still flabbergasted to see Valence entering from the back door where the three Omega Grunts had been chased out of the gym. Were they really chased out at all? Or did Tyrone work with Team Omega?

* * *

><p><em>Intrigue sets in as a gym leader may or may not be in league with the villains. After kicking Gus out of the organization, what does Valence have left to say? We'll find out in the next chapter!<em>

_**Trivia:** You know how every gym leader has a name related to their gym? Well, Tyrone's is kind of a stretch. "Tyrone" is a real name that's pretty close to "Typhon," the creature known in Greek mythology as the father of all monsters. He runs the monster gym, so he's named for the strongest monster. Get it?_  
><em>Yeah, I know. It's not that clever.<em>

_**More trivia:** Tyrone's pokémon are named for characters from Monsters, Inc._


	45. Foresight

Foresight

I was dumbstruck to watch an official Gym Leader obeying the commands from Valence, leader of Team Omega. Gym Leaders had always been the top of the food chain to me. The sight of one acting subservient to this man—one who, just a week earlier, wanted me arrested by the Marshals—left me seething.

Tyrone was also upset. "I thought our business was complete."

"Our business had completed," Valence affirmed. "We desired witness to the outcome of your battle when the identity of your challenger was realized. He is none other than our most former member of Team Omega. His strength is indeed what we expected to find when he was first recruited."

My identity rang familiar with Tyrone, but he seemed unimpressed. Maybe he was more upset at his defeat than at Valence's presence. He sputtered and said, "It was hardly a display of his strength. More like his luck."

"Your heliolisk was defeated by his fishtain in a display of overconfidence," Valence explained. "You placed the knife to your own throat when you attempted to drain the health from a pokémon with the ability Liquid Ooze."

"That doesn't make sense," Tyrone said. "That move is only found in poison-type pokémon."

"Fishtains are water-types," I agreed. I'm not really sure why I was contributing to the conversation. But I felt awkward just standing there silently.

Valence's explanation continued. "Not all is understood about pokémon. They have hidden abilities. Perhaps exploring the path of poison with your fishtain would prove fruitful and provide an increased offering of tactics." Oddly enough, that made sense. The very first time I met Conch as a mergeant, the first thing he did was purify sea water for me to drink—like reverse poison. He would have to have some level of poison power to be able to do that.

With my victory explained, Valence said to the sulking gym leader, "Leave us. We would appreciate the opportunity to speak with this young man."

Tyrone looked from Valence to me with amazement and disgust, respectively. Finally he relented. "Fine. I have to deal with my broken floor sooner or later. Might as well make arrangements."

Suddenly the influence Valence had over Tyrone was obvious. The way they spoke, it was as if Tyrone still had his own mind and ran his gym his way, but he just allowed Valence to run him out without so much as a reason. I mean, how much easier would it be for Valence and me to go somewhere else? After all, the gymnasium belonged to Tyrone. He should get to keep the bigger room. Yet he gave it up without a fight.

Disbelieving what I saw, I asked, "Are you seriously giving in to the demands of Team Omega?"

Tyrone looked as if I had no clue. "This whole city deals with Team Omega. They produce the majority of cash flow through the city's economy in one way or another. The least I can offer to the man who gave the city a magnet train with his own money and owns the property where this gym stands is a few minutes of time in whatever room he wants." With that, the ginormous Gym Leader abandoned me to the presence of a man who covered his body from head to toe so not a single cell of skin was visible.

Valence rarely moved. Actually, he hardly moved when he moved. I hadn't noticed before, but the pleated walls provided me a clear measure of straight lines across the wall. When Valence walked, he didn't bob at all. He could have been riding a hover board for as much relief as there was in his joints. It made me wonder if he held a squat position all the time.

"Gus, please describe what you think of us." That ridiculous first-person plural. How arrogant was that? He was hardly royalty or anything, regardless of what it must cost to purchase that silky costume.

"Who do you mean by 'us'? Are you referring to Team Omega as a whole or just to you and all the hopes and dreams you consume in that inferno you call a soul?"

Was he never offended by the way I insulted him? He didn't hesitate to respond in a straightforward manner. "This one does not always share the same ideals of Team Omega."

"You, then," I concluded. I took a good look at the man before me who was either tall or short, fat or thin, and always shrouded in elegant robes so I couldn't be sure. Even his face was veiled so that I had no idea what he truly looked like. When I compared him to everyone else I met in the organization he ran and the way so many of them suffered from genetic defects, I deduced he must suffer from the worst physical deformities of the bunch. If that was an indicator of having aura, or pokémon-like powers, then he had to be the strongest of all.

I continued answering his query. "Well, you are creepy beyond rational thought, and I am sure you have not told me or anyone else in Team Omega what you're really planning. What is the real reason for gathering all of the region's legendary pokémon?"

"Have you born witness to their awe-inspiring power?"

The question caught me by surprise. I was flabbergasted by the implication. "Seriously? Power? You want them for their power? You feel the need to obtain even more power despite having a gym leader in your pocket and the Perioble Marshals Service doing your bidding. I can see how that wouldn't be enough for you."

"Not the power of emotion or of influence used to sway people through fear and politics. Something so trite only leads to tragedy and ruination. Have you not learned from the story of Team Alpha?"

Confusion fell through to speechlessness. "Um… Did you hit your head and forget the name of the group you command?"

He ignored my ignorant joke. "Team Alpha may be viewed as the predecessor to Team Omega. They emerged as the antagonist faction to the Hydrogen Empire."

"I know about them!" I said, the excitement brimming in my voice.

"Tell us what you know."

Wow. Talk about being put on the spot. I didn't even have my hand raised. "Well, I know they started the idea of training pokémon to fight battles because they wanted protection from wild pokémon. The legendaries, right? Their fighting destroyed cities and killed people, so the Hydrogen Emperor put together an army of pokémon and trainers who could command them to fight back."

"Your knowledge is rudimentary." Did he just call me stupid? "The Hydrogen Empire did rise as a result of the devastation suffered by the people at the whims of unruly pokémon. But the efforts to retaliate only began with the desire to abdicate the will power of pokémon for the benefit of human society. Pokémon training bore heavy casualties on the body and soul. Before the advent of the pokéball, trainers could handle commanding only one pokémon at a time—two if the trainer were particularly skilled at observation. But you have seen that natural power does not measure against that of the Perioble Mutators."

"Mutators?" I repeated.

"It is the name associated with the collective entity known as legendary pokémon."

"But I thought the eight legendary pokémon were called Creators."

"Time tells tales, and speech is distorted from generation to generation. Only in the past five hundred years have storytellers used the moniker of Creation Pokémon. When the war began one thousand years ago, the collective was known as Mutators because of their effect on nature. Seeming unnatural pokémon evolved eons in a matter of days. Pokémon what had once been thought to remain stoic began to evolve into new species."

I added, "Humans began to develop special powers."

Valence was silent for a moment. "You refer to aura. It is not a creation of the legendary pokémon."

"What? I thought they mutated people, too, and that's why half your team could compete in their own pokémon battles."

"Human beings do not possess the qualities of pokémon by natural design. The Mutators rewrote the laws of nature for much of existence, but humans bearing pokémon techniques were a result of humankind's interference. Drawing inspiration from their witness to the Mutators, those in the Hydrogen Empire sought to bring evolution into their own kind."

"Wait a second," I said. "You're telling me that humans somehow brought about the effects of aura in themselves?"

"Yes. As technology advanced and pokémon grew more powerful, a fatal flaw exposed itself in battle. Although trainers brought the army closer to stalemates against the Mutators, there still occurred in time the difference between command and execution. A trainer's best hope was to predict the movement of the enemy in order to command an attack timely enough for his or her pokémon to comprehend the intent. Meanwhile the Mutators needed only think and execute. With unrivaled power to begin with, victory fell to the speedier party every time.

"And so the Hydrogen Emperor enlisted technologists who began to dissect pokémon and observe their habits to learn the function of their techniques. As understanding of those functions matured, human testing began. Soldiers suffered experiments that produced, within their bodies, the same biological weaponry pokémon develop naturally. Countless lives were lost, both human and pokémon, in this never-ending quest to match the power of the Mutators."

Valence paused for a moment, possibly to wait for my retching to stop. I couldn't believe my ears. Did humans really do that to themselves just to fight harder? And all that testing on pokémon! So inhumane! The mere thought made me sick to my stomach.

"The subjugation of pokémon to the wills of their trainers and the inhumane treatment of test subjects gave rise to a new movement. The Hydrogen Empire had fallen far from their ideals of a peaceful world free from the tyranny of warring pokémon. Morals disintegrated behind self-preservation. What right did one man have to decide humanity should pay such costs? Team Alpha saw another path—one where pokémon were not slaves and did not suffer inside test tubes and incubators. Team Alpha rose on the principle of pokémon freedom."

I sucked in as much oxygen as I could get, pushing aside my feeling of disgust. "Pacifists?"

"Sympathizers. Apologists. Although Team Alpha saw pokémon as natural existence superseding the judgment of humankind, they did not lend such credibility to their own ilk."

Listening to Valence was certainly a lesson in all those vocabulary studies the Elder put me through as a child, but I knew what he was saying. "Team Alpha sided with the legendary pokémon against the Hydrogen Empire?"

"Yes."

"Because they thought… what? That people were the ones intruding on nature and that every battle between the Mutators was just the planet's way of keeping humankind in check?"

"Almost accurately, that was the core tenet of their organization. Brought together, the Mutators possess the combined force of all natural energy. These eight guardian deities are viewed by many as manifestations of nature's essence. Their intentions represent the same intentions of whatever existential force drives the continued path of the universe.

"Believing their path to be just, Team Alpha developed weaponry to combat the Hydrogen Empire and cripple their forces, clearing the way for excessive destruction when the Mutators skirmished. Professor Aspen revolutionized technological advancements of the time. His innovations included hovercraft used to hold the tactical advantage in a scrimmage. It was he who created the first pokéball. The Hydrogen army's pokémon soldiers were as pets—untethered to their trainers by any means aside from loyalty. Team Alpha used pokéballs to seal pokémon soldiers and offer the Mutators unfettered war… that is, until the Hydrogen Empire obtained Team Alpha's weaponry and adapted it to their purposes. Now they could capture their own pokémon within pokéballs and unleash mechanical armaments against the Mutators in self-defense."

Riveted to my figurative seat (I was standing up), I asked, "So people were fighting against other people while simultaneously struggling to survive against the wildest of pokémon that wouldn't stop battling one another?"

"Verily."

That's about as close as it gets to the phrase "all hell breaks loose." I shook my head of the horrendous mental images my brain put together. "How did it finally end?"

"The Machine War's climactic moment occurred when Professor Aspen designed a bomb capable of feeding on aura—on living energy. Team Alpha established probes across Perioble that retained residual energy ensuing Mutator confrontations. By implanting energy from all eight guardians into his bomb, Professor Aspen achieved a bomb capable of annihilation."

Cautiously, I asked, "Annihilation of what?"

I knew the answer before he said it. "Everything."

I swallowed down the lump that formed in my throat. The next part of the conversation worried me. "So… What does all of that have to do with your collecting legendary pokémon?"

He paused, possibly for dramatic effect. It sure wasn't intended to beget any emotion in his speech. "Every remnant of the fallen Hydrogen Empire is an artifact worthy of recovery. We desire to salvage all of it."

"…Even a reality-destroying bomb?"

Valence simply repeated, "All relics must be reclaimed for the fullest understanding of our region's history. Does that make you uncomfortable?"

I hesitated. "Does my answer affect the likelihood of my escaping this gym?"

"What if it does?"

Analyzing Valence was nearly impossible. I had no idea what kind of pokémon he might carry within that royal costume. What if he had greater aura power than all of his Team Omega underlings? He wouldn't even need pokémon to battle against me. I fingered Elly's pokéball as I sidled around the gym toward the exit door in the corner. I hoped it would lead me out of the gym.

"I'd like to leave now."

"We would not recommend the use of that door. You would be displeased to find our body guards staged outside."

"Nice try," I said. The door was right in front of me now and Valence had budged, even to turn and face me. "I'm not falling for that trick." It felt like the right time to break away from him. I bolted for the door and yanked it open, ready to slip through and make my way back to the watermill outside the city.

But Valence didn't try to deceive me. Eight trainers dressed in uniform outfits awaited. Even Hoodie Harry was there, although his clothes were far from the hoodie that hid his excess body hair. Their white outfits trimmed with silver coordinated well, but the single wing on their backs was the dead giveaway to their collective identity. I still didn't understand the symbolism of the single wing.

Also, Harry didn't look happy to see me.

"Uh oh." I slammed the door shut and ran back into the gym leader's room, bypassing the stoic Valence as the door popped off its hinges with an intense screech and crunched loudly on the planked floor. With my pursuers on my tail, I dove through the trap door I broke during my battle with Tyrone and fell into the gym labyrinth. Confusing as it was, I'd spent a week learning my way around, including the traps. I'd be able to weave my way through and escape the long way.

Every Grunt on that team knew my face and wanted to be the one to bring me in. Stibium City was entirely in the grip of Team Omega. I wanted to stop Valence from obtaining a bomb that could wipe out the entire region in an explosion. That could never happen stuck in their clutches.

It was time to move on to the next town.

* * *

><p><em>This was one of my favorite chapters. I always enjoy having the protagonist and antagonist in a room together discussing schemes. Valence left plenty of little details for Gus to figure out on his own. He'll need to do so if he desires any chance at stopping Team Omega. How will he do it? Perhaps a visit to the chapel in Wolfram will assist.<em>

_**Trivia: **This was the first chapter I had to write using a second Word document. Word finally got tired of telling me that "wyrmnir" isn't a real word and "immolion" is missing two letters, and so it shut off the automatic spell check. I don't trust my typing ability enough not to use it-hence, the second document._


	46. Play Rough

Play Rough

There have been very few times in my life that I felt secure enough in my self-worth to admit when I was perfectly clueless. There was a time in school when Miss Rita called on me to answer some sort of calculus problem; I mean, how was I supposed to do complex calculations when all my mini-computer's memory was spent on eight-bit Mega Man games? Of course, there was the time Michelle asked me to repeat what she just said to me, but that was because she asked during the Pokéball Final Four. If she really wanted me to listen, why wouldn't she wait for the commercials? They pop up every two minutes!

But trying to train my little fishtain to use poison-type moves was not something I felt even remotely qualified to attempt. We started about two miles out from Stibium City with trying to poison dirt clods for an attack, but I'm not sure Conch really understood what I was trying to describe to him. It seemed like poisoning dirt was a useless strategy, too, because I would never be able to tell that it was poisoned just by looking at it. Not unless it smelled putrid, and sniffing putrid venom ran the added risk of poisoning me with it. That was certainly not the goal here.

So we moved to a liquid environment. We were still well outside the city limits. Poisoning the river was about as smart as poisoning myself. I guess in a perfect world, Conch could practice poisoning Siggy or Reggie as long as I carried a few of those antidotes the guy in the Poké Mart swears will cure a pokémon of any kind of poison. But Conch didn't actually know any poison moves. Teaching him was the purpose of the training.

All of which is my way of explaining why I ended up peeing into a small pond between the city and the wooded region to the west. I don't know if it counts as poison just because I take a leak in the clear water, but it led me to the only conclusion I presently had regarding Conch's poison power: He's really good at cleaning it up. The same way he distilled the sea water to make it drinkable for me months earlier when we met in that arid climate, or when he removed the poison from that spore-filled swamp water where I found the spiritymph hive, he cleared up the urination and returned the pond to its pristine condition.

"How do you do that but you don't know any poison moves?" I asked him. His reply was to stare back at me with his big, unblinking eyes. "I can only assume here that you absorb the poison into your body when you purify the water. What do you do with all that waste material? It has to be building up for some kind of attack, I'd think. Or maybe you convert it into usable energy." He only continued to stare. "Is none of this ringing a bell? Of course, even if you knew, you wouldn't tell me."

Sludge attacks weren't in his repertoire. Neither were any of the obvious "Poison that thing!" attacks that came to mind. I finally decided it was time for a break. I tossed Conch a handful of fish snacks for him to suck out of the water while I sat back against a small sapling and pondered my next approach. Where could I possibly find more information about pokémon without heading into a library or pokémon center?

The answer struck me like a palm to my forehead. "Duh! The pokédex should have some information." I pulled it from my satchel while Conch continued playing around in the pond. Using the search function, I scrolled through a really long list of pokémon to find the entry for fishtain.

"_Fishtain is a marine pokémon related to the seaking family. It is the only existing member of the genus _gigasmare_. Their scales are primarily powder blue, but they have many dark spots marking the torso. Fishtains have powerful legs that resemble a man's; the legs tend to have few or no scales and instead appear mammalian, complete with tiny body hairs a fishtain may use to observe vibrations in the water. A long dorsal fin runs along the spine from the upper back to atop the head._

"_On top of being a top notch swimmer, a fishtain has the ability to purify toxins in the surrounding environment by absorbing them into its bloodstream. Depending on the type, toxins provide a boost to energy. If gathered quickly, any substance can be compiled and expelled as a projectile assault."_

"Interesting," I noted. My gaze drifted back to my energetic pokémon. He was finished eating and had moved on to some sort of water aerobics across a bunch of lily pads. Maybe dancing. "So you are most likely to figure out a poison-type attack only after being subjected to a lot of poison. That's weird. I wonder if a few exposures to poison will enable you to learn how to generate the poison yourself." Too bad Conch couldn't give me any answers himself. Not much of a talker, that one.

Apparently there was more information in my pokédex. _"Although the circumstances of evolution are not understood perfectly, it is known that fishtains that garner a sufficient level of strength and experience transform into titanels."_ A titanel? That sounded exciting. How close was Conch to evolving again? I should look up the information on a titanel to learn more about it! Maybe if I knew what he would become, I could help him get there faster.

"Hey, Conch. What if you try another basic Poison Sting. You must have taken enough toxins from my urine to complete that attack."

This time when I looked at Conch, I realized the lily patches were moving. They seemed to be choking him. It only took a moment longer to recognize three lombres using the grass attack Absorb to drain him of his energy. Being nocturnal creatures, my guess was they didn't react as fondly to the absence of bathroom facilities out here as Conch did.

"Conch, use Fish Kick!"

It was a good thought anyhow. Three lombres versus Conch left him sapped of strength. There was no fight left in his body. I withdrew him from the pond to his pokéball. I felt bad about getting him hurt with my negligence. My mind was so enthralled with the information in the pokédex that my pokémon was attacked and it slipped past me. Poor guy. I'd give him a potion or two when I made camp that night. Worst case scenario, there was sure to be a pokémon center in the next town.

The morning training session was over. Teaching Conch to use poison attacks was going to take resources I didn't have at my disposal. I packed up my stuff and slung my satchel over my shoulder at the exact moment I was nailed in the back of the head by a sledgehammer. A wet one. A very wet sledgehammer that continued to sprinkle water on me while I recovered. I rolled over just in time to catch the image of a solid spray fading away. It looked like the kind of spray that emerges from a place of compressed water, like a hydrant.

I sat up and saw the attack came from one of the lombres. Each of them tumbled out of the water with all the grace of an open umbrella. Bits of grass and pond scum stuck to their... fur? Their spindly arms dug into the ground smoothly as they climbed out onto the shoreline the same way Olympic swimmers move through the water. Whatever upset them was bad enough for them to continue chasing me. What could I do when wild pokémon come after me? The answer to that was pretty obvious!

Unfortunately, Conch was out. The lombres might be part grass, which Reggie could handle with his eyes closed, but they were also part water, which defended against the attacks that affected the grass parts. Siggy could probably handle them, but three of them together outweighed him by a hundred and fifty pounds. A fight like that could be tough if it dragged on. Then again, why not use Clara? She was still new to battling. A little experience would do her good, plus fairy attacks would still work against lombres. Maybe she might even evolve! It was worth a shot.

"Alright, Clara. It's your turn!" I popped open her pokéball and watched the electromagnetic energy take the shape of a small, human-like spiritymph. She took immediate flight, circling around me. Her body was naked and blue, and her wings looked like fluorescent pink yanma wings. She looked happy to see me again. When she saw the lombres, she suddenly got timid and perched herself on my shoulder, using my head as a shield between them and herself. "Let's defend ourselves from those wild pokémon. Hit them with Fairy Wind!" Clara began a series of aerial acrobatics, swinging around in wide circles and performing flips that kicked up bits of wind. Her wind grew slightly from a light breeze to a rushing zephyr.

None of the lombres even seemed to notice. "What happened?" I asked her. She couldn't directly answer, of course, and partly because she had to duck the sudden downpour of bubbles that filled the air. By "duck" I mean she hid behind my head again. And by "filled the air" I mean I got pummeled and soaked in the three-pronged Bubble attack. All of a sudden I felt as slimy as a lombre.

I pulled Clara back into her pokéball. "Not much of a battler, huh?" My patience dwindled. These wild pokémon were starting to annoy me. I gave them a chance to let me leave in peace, but they insisted on being part of my training process. I pulled out another pokéball. "Just go get them, Elly."

In a flash, my new wyrmnir appeared, raring for battle. Just like the wyrmnir we battled at the dragon gym, she had an enormous body covered in deep red scales. Protuberances used for stripping the tough exteriors to her food stuck out of her face like immobilized mandibles. Two small wings sprouted from the arch in her back while two bigger wings sprouted from just below. Neither set could help her fly because they were mostly bone and no flesh. She was still quadrupedal, and her tail ended in a mass like a bony mace. As dangerous as she looked before, she looked even worse now.

"Use Dragon Claw!"

Elly couldn't help seeing the three opponents I had in mind. As soon as she popped out of the pokéball, they were finally close enough to slam her from three sides with Fury Swipes. It was kind of a pointless effort against her steel scales, yet Elly didn't shrug it off as easily as I'd expect. She loosed a wicked roar that could have deafened me if I had stood in front of her. I clamped my hands over my head as earmuffs and still heard the wild bellow just as clearly. Frustrated, she dragged her tail across the ground in an arcing sweep that rooted the sod while it struck two lombres at once. She looked to the third, bit down on the lily pad on its head, and whipped her head through the air, swallowing the lombre in a single gulp.

I gulped, too, out of anxiety. "Not exactly the command I gave, but it'll work." It always bothered me to watch Elly eat other pokémon. At least she didn't crunch the lombre the way she did all those geodudes, so I could imagine a Jonah and the Wailord kind of situation to settle my stomach. "That was a much quicker battle than I expected. Now I can finish packing up in peace."

Sudden tremors in the ground knocked me off my feet and onto my butt. And then I bounced along on my butt, which bruised my tailbone. Bone rubbing against skin made me feel raw. But the tremors kept coming—one right after the other so it felt impossible to recover my bearings. I tried to thrust my arms out to each side a little bit behind my back so that I could establish a triangular base to balance myself. Constant shaking made even that difficult. Eventually the shaking did stop long enough for me to look around.

There was no earthquake. Being in the middle of the prairie, there was no rock slide or avalanche of any kind. The cause was Elly. Something spooked my wyrmnir and set her off on a minor rampage. Bouncing around in place resulted in the quivering ground. It was like she was chasing ghosts.

"Elly!" I shouted. "Settle down! What's wrong?"

I'm sure she heard me but I'm not sure she interpreted my words. Her response to my query was to pounce in my direction. Quick to react to items falling toward my head, I rolled away and found my feet. Funny how fear of death can do that for you.

"What's going on, Elly? Is there a thorn in your paw?" She body slammed the ground and woke up every wild pokémon in a wide range. They all took off into the distance. I couldn't blame them. Wish they'd take me with them. Elly wasn't interested in talking right then, so I'd have to send her to her room for a little timeout. Unfortunately, the sight of the pokéball heightened her sour mood. She braced herself on the ground and bellowed in my direction with the intensity of dynamite exploding right by my ear. It was so powerful that I felt myself shoved backward and dropped her pokéball.

Somehow, betwixt the chaos of her sudden outrage and the fear of her killing me by accident, I got angry. "Fine. We'll do this the hard way." I pulled the other two pokéballs from my pocket and popped them open. In a flash, an immolion and a golfoam stood between me and the rampaging wyrmnir. "This is an unusual request, guys," I said to Reggie and Siggy, "but Elly seems to have too much pent-up energy and we need to burn it off her." Reggie took my words literally and burst into flame. Every orange hair on his body was like a fine, thick fuse. He didn't even wait for me to give a command when he tackled her with a Flame Charge attack. Even Siggy was already sloughing along as quickly as his sluggish body would move him.

Elly must have been looking for a fight. She and the others had always gotten along really well, but now she almost grinned a dragon's grin at the prospect of battling them. As soon as Reggie charged her, she swiped at him with a Dragon Claw and knocked him clean off her backside. He twisted around midair and landed on his feet, ready for another try. Fire attacks were going to be tough. Her steel hide was susceptible to the heat, but her dragonic core gave her resistance. Fire didn't work too well against Keeper, Long's wyrmnir, either.

Elly saw Siggy coming and bounced heavily on the ground, shaking his stance and knocking him over. In an instant, she pounced on him to Bite, but Reggie was quick to jump in her face and gnaw at the soft area behind her ears. She reared back on two legs in pain, whipping her neck this way and that to shake him off, but Reggie's powerful claws held tight to her steel skin. Siggy took that moment to land a critical Foamy Punch to her underbelly. That wasn't good enough, either. All it did was upset her more. With a violent motion, she thrashed about with her Steel Wing and pried Reggie from her face, hurling him to the ground with incredible force. He hit hard, but recovered quickly. Elly dropped back to all fours and roared loudly in the face of the immolion. He spewed a Flamethrower straight into her open mouth. She gulped it with surprise and spat it back out with dragon energy—as a Dragon Rage attack.

The battle was intense, and I couldn't stand it if Elly ate one of my pokémon the way she kept eating wild ones. Reggie was fighting back well, but he wasn't dealing a lot of damage. I couldn't have him use Earthquake because Siggy was still underneath Elly and would be crushed by her sheer weight.

Of course! "Siggy, use Focus Punch!" Although not the natural motion of a Foamy Punch, a Focus Punch was only different in how he executed it. Instead of attacking the exterior of her scales, he was essentially aiming beneath the surface to attack her innards. The move required extra time to prepare, but while Elly didn't know where he was, he had plenty. "Reggie, give him covering fire with Flamethrower." But Reggie was staggered from the Dragon Rage attack. Elly twisted and struck with her mace-like Iron Tail. Reggie avoided it barely, and then I realized the best way to keep her distracted. "Use Agility instead!" Channeling his focus into his legs, Reggie moved more fluidly than before. He was more agile without the distraction of attacking.

Meanwhile, Siggy finished charging his Focus Punch and landed it straight into Elly's gut. She let out a fierce cry and fell over backward. Her glowing eyes finally located the slippery golfoam that hurt her. Weakened, she angrily spewed her Dragon Breath at him. It was like she hadn't even paid attention to his battles.

"Mirror Move!" I told him. The move affected him, though. His already sluggish body was even slower to react, like he was covered in molasses. Or else like his body had gone numb. I bet that putrid stench burned out a nerve and paralyzed him. That was no good right then.

Reggie wasn't done yet. Just as Elly climbed to her feet, he hopped in front of her and blasted through her with the force of a missile colliding with her head. He didn't knock her out, but the attack seemed to stun her just long enough for Siggy to recover and spray the wyrmnir with a Dragon Breath attack almost identical to hers. She cried out grotesquely as the same nerve-biting attack crept through her body and dragged her into unconsciousness.

I picked up her pokéball from where she had guarded it and recalled the massive body into a much more manageable space. What in the world was her problem? I grabbed my stuff and walked over to Siggy and Reggie.

"I'm so sorry about that, guys. How are you doing?" Reggie pushed into me and started licking my face. I had to pull away and push his face to make him stop. "Ow, Reg. That hurts! Your tongue still feels like fire!" He kept trying, though, settling for licking my wrists and singeing a few hairs.

Siggy wasn't as well off. "That Dragon Breath really did a number on you, didn't it?" I asked him. I rubbed his slimy head with one hand while I reached into my satchel with the other. I carried a few healing salves with me that were good for curing paralysis. I popped the top off and rubbed the ointment into Siggy's skin as much as I could. With any luck, his foamy body would absorb it and his personal biology would move the healing elements to where they were needed. While I was at it, I sprayed him with a healing Potion to restore a bit of fighting strength to him. He rolled his head into my hand, which was an affectionate sign. He felt better already.

We all just sat for a breather for a moment. "You guys think maybe it would be worth revisiting Long's gym? Maybe he could help me figure out what happened to Elly today." I looked easterly toward the mountains. They looked so far away. It would take three or four days just to get to the base, and then another week to climb up to Argentum City. I didn't have that kind of time to spend retracing my steps. Team Omega was on the prowl for enough power to control the region. I needed to stop them.

Staring at Elly's pokéball hopefully, I suggested, "Maybe she was just in a bad mood. I'll do a better job of reading you guys for battle and we shouldn't have this issue again." Or maybe I was wrong and I'd just lost one of my fighters. Only time would tell.

* * *

><p><em>It felt so weird finally writing a chapter where Gus interacts with no other humans, but it feels like a few of those are necessary in a pokémon journey. When I play the games, who knows how many in-game days would be spent running circles around a field leveling up my team? I refuse to claim pokémon can't gain battling experience from one another (e.g., Reggie and Siggy and Elly all gained experience from that fight), but a story would basically stop if I spent all the text time battling wild pokémon. In the first chapter, the Natrium Elder suggested Gus was cursed and wild pokémon would seek him out. You are safe assuming Gus spends time between all towns battling wild pokémon. Unless it helps the story or character development (like it did here), I am unlikely to include another segment like this one.<em>

_**Trivia:** Elly will NOT be like Ash's Charizard. The answer to her problem will come up in future chapters, but Gus has already possessed a pokémon that was on too high a level to take orders. That will not be Elly's problem._


	47. Fly

Fly

The woods were getting treacherous the farther I traveled. It was so dark outside I could see my hand if I held a flashlight. And it were turned on. And the batteries weren't dead. The point is: It was really dark. Had the sun set already? Not according to the Hermes I carried in my satchel. Still lunch time. That meant the trees were to blame for the darkness. I'd never seen trees so tall before. Or maybe they only grew ten feet high and I couldn't tell the difference because of the way they blotted out the sun.

Lucky for me, Reggie was a walking torch. Visibility was no problem as long as I had him around. The best part was I didn't have to carry around a torch all the time. Holding one up for extended periods left me with sore shoulders.

Unlucky for me, trees are flammable. Like, wildfire flammable. And it turns out using even a low-power Ember technique will start a wildfire. I had to have Conch and Siggy double-up the water attacks to fix my own mess before it spread wide enough to affect someone else. Maybe sore shoulders from carrying a torch was a small price to pay.

Surprisingly the trees that ignited never fell. Part of the trunks charred and my pokémon had to protect me from a hive of vengeful beedrills, but otherwise there was no real damage to the forest itself. For trees that looked so old, they were not frail. The bark was rather smooth and had a sort of swirly texture, and knocking on it was like rapping my knuckles against marble. In better lighting, I might marvel at the wonder nature put before me. Then again, I was getting to the point I had to pee again, and the splendor I thought I saw on the trees could just be the torchlight throwing shadows on the natural backdrop.

Aside from being dark, the forest was noisy. It may have been even noisier than it was dark. A cacophony of bird sounds above me ranged from tweeting to screeching. Every time I heard wings flutter, I ducked just in case they were coming after me or my satchel. I had sunflower seeds in there, but they were caked in barbecue-flavored powder and garlic. And there was no way I was sharing them with the birds!

Insects chirped all. Most of them weren't as bad as the birds. Could be because noisy bugs that broadcast their locations tend to get eaten by the birds that see really well in the dark. Except for one bug that chirped away in the darkness. Each successive chirp got louder as if the bug were powering up to explode. And I knew a thing or two about feeling ready to explode.

"Now I really need to pee," I said, running up to the base of a large tree just a few meters ahead. It was crooked in the middle and provided a little nook for me to hide in.

I handed the torch to Siggy and said, "Hold this, please." As soon as I assumed the position, the light extinguished and left me absolute darkness again. Apparently Siggy held the torch very loosely and so the handle slid downward through his hand until he held onto the pitiful flame—and his foamy skin promptly snuffed it. "Thanks," I uttered. Siggy just stood like nothing happened. Sometimes I wondered if that pokémon was all there cognitively-speaking.

Slowly it dawned on me that I could see Siggy. Not well, mind you, but his foam bubbles sparkled just a tad, giving him the sort of appearance like he had rhinestones or precious minerals studding his body. I peeked out from behind the crooked tree and spotted a few torch sconces sticking out of the ground, circled in a regular pattern by a pair of venomoths.

But they weren't just two torches out in the middle of the woods taking a stroll. They marked the property lines of a wide, round building with the kind of roof that slopes upward to a single point in the middle, almost like a circus tent but with six flat panels forming a hexagon. A brown sign with white lettering stated in bold characters, "Wolfram Village Visitor Center."

My initial pleasure at realizing I finally reached the next town abated as I approached the visitor center. From the yard, only four other buildings had similar torchlights available out front, all built with the same hexagonal gazebo rooves. One of them was fairly large and had a heavy-duty heat lamp in the yard along with a rectangular, gated pen that reached back into the darkness beyond my line of sight. The other three buildings didn't look big enough to house a family of four. One of them was no bigger than an outhouse. Figures I'd find one of those right after relieving myself on a tree.

I entered the visitor center and found myself pleased to note that the inside also looked a little like a circus big top tent. The wallpaper alternated between shades of yellow and shades of red. I like either of those colors separately as much as the next trainer wandering the woods in the dark, but they don't belong together. Even in my laundry-challenged state, I managed an outfit matching green and blue and mud. Sure, mud doesn't _sound_ fashionable, but it's actually all the rage. I don't know a single person who journeyed through the woods after a rainstorm that _doesn't_ wear mud on their shoes and the cuffs of their pant legs. Siggy was caked in it, too, apparently from the slimy mud trail he dragged inside when he followed me.

A portly man with rosy cheeks and approximately three hairs combed across the top of his head popped out from behind a circular desk in the middle of the room. He smiled jovially and spoke in long, protracted words as he said, "Hellooo! It's soo nice to have a viiisitor. You muust be here for the gyyym."

I was too taken aback to come up with a witty retort. "If I must, then I must."

He eyed me up and down. "Oh, yeees. Youu do not bear the uuusual attire of a biiird watcher, and you most certainly do not look reliigious."

"Bird watching and piety," I noted. "Are those the primary draws to your tiny village?"

"Tiiinyyy?" He laughed hale and hearty—so hard-y that I thought he might choke on his own tongue. When he finally settled himself, he said, "Dear traveler. What you see on the groouund outside is ooonly the introduction. If you walk to the oouutpost to the right, you will fiiind the walkway to the skyway. Remember to look up!" While I was left to ponder the meaning of those cryptic words, he shoved a rolled up parchment into my hands as an afterthought. "But take this maaap! It will ceeertainly come in handy."

"Never been a fan of maps," I told him as I put it back down on the desk, "although a few maps have been fans for me during the summer months."

The man smiled cheerily at me. "Oh, you're sooo clever. If you won't take a maap, at leeaast download the app for your smart phone. Moving through the treeees will be soo much easier that waay."

"I enjoy finding my way through wandering," I told him. I wasn't sure that I heard him correctly about moving through trees, and so I added, "Swinging on vines offers a nice adrenaline rush, too. Just got to watch out for that tree."

"Yoouu are delightful," said the man. There had never been a happier, friendlier person in my entire life. "Do enjooy your stay heeere. Our pokémon centerr offers a chance at freee booard if you can earn a gym badge. My name is Waalter. Drop by again aaanytime if you need moore informaation."

"Thanks Waalter. I will." I promise I wasn't just making fun of him. He used that inflection to speak his name, so I thought maybe that was how it was supposed to be pronounced. I turned to leave and had kind of a delayed reaction settle in after something he said. "You mentioned a religion?"

"Of coourse!" Walter found a pamphlet from his desk and held it out for me. It showed an image of a plump bird with a tail as long as chopsticks. I'm not sure what the scale was, but the tail took up the length of the trifold. The bird had a beak that crooked a little like a lightning bolt. Much of its body was covered in white feathers, particularly on the belly and the tips of the wings. But its backside was a gorgeous shade of green that fed perfectly into the purple tail feathers. The glossy paper offered its feathers a translucent shimmer, like that of a valuable gemstone. I doubted that was a real bird and was more likely some computer graphic. It was like no pokémon I'd ever seen before.

"There's a religion here based on a bird?"

"The legendary Indusylph, Bird of Wiishes, which brings foortune and immortaality to those who follow in the faith. Ooor so say the worshippers. You'll find a shriiine to it in the village." I nodded, taking the pamphlet reluctantly. I wasn't sure what to think of a culture that worshipped a bird like that.

Before leaving, I asked about the other thing Walter had said. "Bird-watching? Is this what you meant?"

"Oh no, sillyyy. Wolfram Village is aalso the home of the Perioble Audubawwn Society." He handed me another pamphlet bearing a collage of every type of bird pokémon I could think of. The back included a list of bird-watching equipment one can purchase with membership in the Audubon Society. "Their headquarters are aalso on the map."

"Got it. So the gym…"

"Bird pokémon."

"Shocker. Thanks again."

What a bizarre place. I hoped that guy Walter—nice as he was—didn't represent the modal dialect in Wolfram. I would never make it through the day if everyone had that same drawl. That kind of speech impediment could be registered as a lethal weapon.

Following instructions, I left the visitor center and headed back toward the torch at the farthest hut. I could call it a hut because up close I realize it was never as far away as I thought it was. It was just such a small building that it forced my perspective to think the distance was greater than it was. The other buildings suffered from the same issue, although the one with the garden lamp still seemed to be fairly large.

I didn't notice anyone inside the hut as I walked by. But it was impossible to miss the stairs. I mean, once I was close enough to see them in the dim lighting, it was impossible to miss them. My gaze followed them up, though it was too dark to see exactly where they went. More light fell to my level with every step up, though. I was getting the idea why Walter told me to "look up," though. As I ascended to the platform atop the rise, I spotted a rope bridge in front of me. Or like a rope sidewalk, if that's a thing. The bridge had a T intersection with the stairs and two different directions available. Each path angled upward in a gradual slope, which I guess was a nice change from seeing more stairs.

Left had always been a good direction for me, and so that was where I started. The slope was gentle and continued on for a fair distance, but a ladder caught my eye. Eager to see if there was ever going to be a top to the forest, I decided to go straight up. It was like climbing the waterfall all over again, but at least this time hanging on was easier. I really was an idiot for climbing on all those moss-covered rocks back then.

By the time I reached the top, the sky filled with light again. Treetops still loomed overhead and offered vast expanses of shade, but sunlight filtered in between the thinner tree branches without meeting resistance. And light brought visibility. Finally, I could see the village and admit that, yes, it was larger than Natrium was.

From tree to tree, wooden bridges and raised platforms connected an entire community of treehouses. That round-house-with-the-hexagonal-roof architecture was popular at higher altitudes, too. Spires atop the rooves ended in flags. From where I stood, two rows of buildings lined the walkways and I spotted a third positioned below my level. If I had stayed at the bottom of the ladder, I would have ambled through the lower tier. I didn't see a third tier. It seemed like the street designer had the basic idea of how to set up a city at ground level and the eccentricity to try it all the way at the top of the trees instead. That sure made the village aqueducts a strange sight to behold—just like a lower level of houses. That raised an interesting question about how they handled indoor plumbing.

Some of the buildings even covered both levels. I wondered if anyone owned a two-story house or if they each had basic, one-floor homes and shared the walls with someone else on the floor above. After some exploring, I slowly came to the realization that the lower level was the residential floor. Many of the split-level buildings were owned by people who lived in the lower half of the house and ran businesses in the upper half. The butcher's shop was one place where that strategy was likely not to work out too well, I'd wager. The home remedies place smelled lovely, though. The lady who ran it had her own little garden on a raised gazebo out behind her house. Even the Pokémart owner lived downstairs from his supplies.

At first it seemed like the entire village was shaped like a simple rectangle, which made me wonder why Walter insisted so heavily on the map. But as I wandered up and down the platforms, I saw the area open up. Still high in the trees, the village spread wide and far. A large cathedral stood out to me. It wasn't particularly tall, but the external architecture was ornate, decorated by carvings and runes that possibly formed some ancient form of writing. No doubt in my mind that was the home of the bird religion mentioned in the pamphlets.

The Wolfram Audubon Society was easy to spot, too. The building was not round but was, in fact, shaped like a pizza box. I'm sure the offices inside were fascinating and a lot of hard work was accomplished in there, but the truly fascinating draw was hands-down the sheer number of bird pokémon nesting in the trees. Pidgeys and spearows and taillows and starlies and pidoves—such a wide variety of birds I didn't even know could be found in the same environments. I mean, the Elder didn't teach me a whole lot about ornithology, but there was something in there about biological evolution and different birds having differing features to adapt to their differing environments. Maybe the bird-lovers went to great lengths to provide the types of environments necessary for each species to thrive. I was no botanist, either, but I felt like the trees were likely of varying genus.

But my first stop on my trip was inside the pokémon center itself. It was easy to spot because of its red roof. For some reason, no other business in town decided to decorate that way. Not even the hospital. That was decorated with bubbly letters stenciled in black spray paint to say "CLINIC." I liked it: concise and easy to remember.

The inside of the pokémon center was strikingly similar to every other similar building I'd been to. What was the deal? Did _one guy_ design and construct every single pokémon center in the region? Maybe every architect who followed him felt so respectful of his initial foundation that it seemed irreverent to change it. Possibly there was some kind of regional ordinance passed by the government that spelled out the conditions required of pokémon centers.

It's even possible that because a lot of pokémon trainers start journeying as ten-year-olds, and a lot of ten-year-olds get frightened and homesick really easily, someone had the foresight to design all pokémon centers the same way just so those ten-year-olds would have someplace to go that felt and looked like a home away from home. Who's to say which of those reasons was the correct one?

Man… Homesickness. It occurred to me then and there that I hadn't felt homesick in a long time. Part of me felt like I didn't get homesick because the way the townsfolk exiled me without anyone coming to my aid indicated that I was never really home there to begin with. Or maybe I just enjoyed not having a curfew anymore.

Speaking of which… It was after lunchtime and I could think of only one thing more important as I approached the cute girl at the desk. "Hi there. I'd like to drop off my pokémon for a restoration, and it'd be great if I could take a nap while they heal."

The girl couldn't be older than seventeen or eighteen. Her skin still had that silky smooth look to it with a few blemishes disguised by acutely-placed makeup. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was tied up in one of those types of ponytails where girls have the extra loop on top, like where she pulls her hair up and around her wrist just a little bit before pinning it back to her head. Is that a messy ponytail or something? Whatever it's called, it was a nice look for the girl's burgeoning professionalism. It looked nice enough to present to city officials but casual enough to wear around friends.

"I'll be happy to take your pokémon," the girl said. I handed her all five of my pokéballs, remembering how difficult the trek into the forest had been after Conch's run-in with the pond plants… and Reggie and Siggy's run-in with a cranky wyrmnir. They could all use the rest.

"Is this your first time in Wolfram?" she asked. She phrased it like a question, but the look in her face said she already knew the answer.

So I decided to play it funny. "Not at all. This place is like a second home to me. I just love waking up to the feeling that if you take one wrong step off the porch in the morning you could end up with the exhilaration of flying. It's invigorating." As soon as I said the words, I realized that what sounded funny in my head actually sounded snide out loud.

The girl put on a good show by smiling, but it was obviously forced.

"I'm sorry," I said. "It was kind of a long trip, and there were a lot of stairs getting up here, and the woods are very dark, and in hindsight I'm pretty sure I peed on someone's house because I thought it was a tree. Forgive my failed joke?"

Now she beamed genuinely. "Forgiven. I totally understand about long days. You should see how things get in here when Byrd starts one of his insane marathons."

"Which bird is that?"

"Sorry. I meant Byrd, as in the gym leader for the pokémon gym. He sometimes holds contests that he calls 'marathons' but are more akin to obstacle courses." She shook her head as if imagining the horrible things that go wrong during these marathons. "Somebody always cracks a beak."

I made a face. Puzzled, I'm sure. "I suddenly have the image of a whole bunch of bird pokémon shooting straight toward one another out of cannons."

She giggled at the mental picture. "No, nothing like that. You'll just have to visit and see it. I'm sure you plan to go to the gym anyway."

Second nature caused me to puff up and cock one eyebrow just a little higher than the other. "You really think I need it?"

"You know what I mean," she groaned. At least it was a coy groan like she was a little amused.

"Yes, I do. I would love to stay and continue chatting because your company is delightful after three days talking to Reggie and Siggy. Don't get me wrong. They're lovely guys and I wouldn't trade any of our bonding time, but they're just not good conversationalists. Except for this one time in the desert but I'm _so_ glad that's over."

Now the pokémon center girl was smitten. I guess she liked the ramblers. "I'll tell you what. Head down this corridor right here and take the second door on the left. The bathroom is right across the hall. If anyone else needs shelter here in the next two hours, I'll have them steer clear of that room. After two hours, I'll bring your pokémon by and recommend a good place to eat."

"I really appreciate that…?"

"Mindy."

"Thank you, Mindy. I'm Gus. With any luck, I'll see you in two hours."

I walked back to the second bedroom of this little pokémon hostel. The four corners of the room were dotted by twin-sized beds. Like in any dirt-cheap place of stay, a traveler had to expect to share bedrooms with other weary trainers. Each bed had a single sheet with a decent thread count and a fluffy comforter decorated with flower patterns. Four small desks rested at the foot of each bed. No TV though. It was homey enough for a place intended to be used no longer than one or two nights consecutively. I closed the door behind me and dove straight into the far corner.

Two hours later, I awoke to the sight of a pretty girl with her hair down who smelled like lilacs. I'm not sure which one originated the scent—the girl or her hair. Mindy's attire was different from what I remembered. She had ditched the pokémon veterinarian outfit and replaced it with a pink sundress. Just as promised, she brought me my refreshed pokémon, all hale and hearty. Sly girl that she was, she suggested I nap for two hours because that was when her shift ended. And even though the sky was still mostly overhead, she was in the mood for an early supper. Or a late lunch. She didn't really care which, and it didn't matter to me which name was given to my first meal in a few days that didn't come from a can.

Dinner/lunch was very pleasant. Not only was Mindy a nurse at the pokémon center, she enjoyed classic literature, a topic on which I could offer very little conversation. I could listen, though, as she delved into the wonder of poetry and novelization. Her passion for study was never in literature, she explained. It was just a hobby that she found relaxing and invigorating all at once. She was also a water polo enthusiast, which is how she kept herself healthy and fit. Fun fact about water polo: It is played mostly by treading water and not by riding a ponyta straight into the pool. I had thought that seemed like a cruel sport before she clarified the rules.

I enjoyed hearing Mindy's stories about working in the pokémon center—particularly some of the juicy bits about Byrd's rigorous training for flying-types. Mindy had to be on-call for an entire week one time because one of the gym leader's so-called marathons was aptly named. He actually had all the flyers do laps around the gym until every single one of them finally wore down and plunged from the sky. It's almost sadistic and Mindy emphasized as much to me. Popular folklore was that Byrd had been a fan of birds ever since he was a kid. "Byrd" wasn't even his real name, but rather a nickname he earned as the only kid in the big city who thought ornithology was a way of life. The instant he was old enough to travel, he made a beeline for Wolfram Village to join the Audubon Society and train with the previous gym leader. The alleged reason for Byrd's stringent training practices was that he was sick and tired of hearing people badmouth bird pokémon—always talking about how physically weak they are and how birds are too squawky.

I couldn't agree with him more. Vengeance is the best reason to become a gym leader. And then definitely he was right to enact a bunch of programs that would accent any areas where birds were, in fact, weak. Honestly, he sounded like a jerk.

But as long as he was the one holding onto the Tungsten Badge, I would have to go meet up with him. Also, Mindy informed me of the ongoing special at the pokémon center where anyone who wins said badge gets full reimbursement for his or her room and board at the center. Staying at the pokémon center didn't cost much at all. It was more expensive to live with the Elder in Natrium, once you calculate the value of all my emotional damage. Plus, Tony's company was picking up my tab as long as my expenses pertained to my pokémon journey. But still the sound of full reimbursement was attractive. Almost made me want to stay a few extra nights.

Discussions with Mindy that afternoon never made me hear wedding bells, but I had a lot of fun with her considering she was older. That fact seemed to bother her a little once she learned my age. She never lost her friendly demeanor, but the effervescence in her voice dissipated, lost to the void where some girls refuse to accept dating younger boys. It was really no big deal to either of us. We parted as friends, which would make seeing her at the pokémon center a lot easier to handle. No heartbreak this time—not like with Katie back in Kalium Town. I admit that my thoughts returned to her often while I was with Mindy.

After our awkwardly-timed meal ended, the sky was just beginning to show signs of the impending twilight. It would be the perfect time of day to go train somewhere with the treetops blocking the sun from getting in our eyes, but the environment was weird. How was I going to train a cat, a slug, a fish, or a dragon with only treehouses to support our weight?

By going to the Bird Gym, that's how. According to the map I downloaded to my Hermes while I was in the pokémon center, the gym was half the size of the town. You'd think I would see a building that size as I approached. Of course, why would you want to put up a ceiling to train your birds to fly? That wouldn't make any sense. That liked tying your shoes together before hopping on a treadmill. You might as well clip their wings. Clearly the engineer who "built" the Bird Gym had the same grand vision in mind. I use the word "built" loosely because there was only a chain-link fence separating the gym from the village and it did not encompass the entire training area. Everywhere past the fence's gate for as far as the eye could see was considered the figurative stomping grounds for bird pokémon and their trainers.

Just as I suspected, trees of every genus known to Gus, plus so many more, could be seen from this single perch right inside the gate. Oak trees, maple trees, ash trees… uh, tall trees, shorts trees, trees that climb on rocks… You name it, it was probably there. As if teaching birds how to follow orders weren't difficult enough without having to care for the specifications of each tree in the forest separately.

As I stepped inside, a girl circling the sky on the back of a glittering skarmony alighted beside me. "Hello there!" she announced more loudly than she needed to. The gold-tinted aviator goggle were the first thing to pop out at me. Practical wear, I'm sure, so bugs and stuff don't get in her eyes while she flies around. Long, black hair cascaded off the back of her head, accented with purple highlights. Her attire resembled a large, white jumpsuit, possibly hiding a parachute inside in the event of some aerial accident. It wasn't in perfect condition. It had a few gashes in the fabric so she looked like she had been attacked with a knife.

"Hi," I returned the greeting. Pointing to her pokémon, I said, "That's a nice-looking skarmory you've got there. It doesn't look like the steel feathers were stabbing you at all."

The girl removed her goggles and revealed eyes that almost matched her hair. A little paler, almost mauve, in the iris. "Comes with the territory when you're riding on the back of a six-foot-tall, steel skarmory. His feathers are like knives."

"I can see that," I said. The metal sparkled in the sunlight. Even the red feathers on its underbelly looked nice. "Do you wax the metal?"

"I do," she said. She patted the skarmory's face. He craned his neck and trilled softly. "I'm Nova, temporarily training here. Who are you?"

"I'm Gus, possibly earning a badge here."

"Oh, really?" she asked. She sounded dubious. "You think you can handle Byrd?"

"I'm not sure yet. I haven't met him or seen him or watched him battle."

A stifled laugh escaped her lips. "Byrd doesn't battle. He plays games. Races, mostly. Endurance runs, too. He loves to see people and their pokémon sweat. Figuratively, of course, since bird pokémon don't have sweat glands."

"Have you challenged him?" I asked.

She leered. "What makes you think I want to challenge him?"

"You said your stay here was only temporary. That makes it sound like you're training to understand your skarmory better until you feel like you're good enough to challenge the big, bad gym leader. Is that your only flying pokémon?"

"No. I have another flying-type, plus two pokémon that can also fly because of their biology. I've worked a little with all of them, but Scar here has the best chance of outlasting all of the more experienced flyers in one of Wolfram's notorious marathons. He's heavy as sin, but he soars better than Gyra."

"He does?"

"Yes," she said. "His wings catch thermal updrafts. I'm still not clear on how Gyra remains aloft without wings. She is quick, though."

I held up my hand, palm-out. "I'm sorry. Can we take a minute to point out that you named your skarmory Scar?"

"Shut up. It's cute! And it's not clichéd because he doesn't have a single scar or blemish on him. Before you mock me for that, too, Gyra is a gyarados. Best to get any laughter out of your system now instead of doing it to her face. She has a short temper when it comes to laughter. Believe me, she will _never_ escort me to a social event."

"Few people appreciate dragons at social events," I added. "Another good reason to leave her in the pokéball."

"Fair enough," she said. "So do you have any flyers? I don't see any with you now."

The question caught me off guard. Strange, considering I was in a gym intended to train flying pokémon. "Uh… Just one, the same as your other two pokémon, I guess. Not a flying-type but flutters around well enough. Come to think of it, the way you described Byrd might make her more useful for me. Maybe I can teach Clara to race."

"Clara?"

"She's my spiritymph. My next closest to a pokémon to compete in a flying-type gym would be my immolion. He stays airborne remarkably well for a cat of such size."

"Oh, yeah?" The grin on Nova's face turned mischievous. "Want to give it a go?"

"Too cryptic. I need more information."

"We're in a gym. Let's battle!"

"Oh. Yeah, sure. But, uh… I don't feel great about the terrain here. Reggie could fall. I was only half-serious about his aerial capacities. I mean, probably he could leap from tree to tree well enough. They're not terribly far apart. But I want to train him first. I can actually imagine him clinging for dear life to the tree limbs."

"What about Clara?"

"She's not much of a battler. I haven't figured out the best training regimen for her yet to bring her out of her little rut," I explained.

Nova pointed into the woods. Either she intended to point south or else it was aimless. "She's a spiritymph, right? Aurum City has a Fairy Gym. I'll bet they can teach you a lot about training her. Probably before the two-week deadline, even."

I cringed. That was far from my favorite subject. "You know about that?"

"Lots of sad stories about spiritymphs have crossed my path. But I understand wanting a chance to train your pokémon to this environment first. It's definitely treacherous without flight. Rain check on the battle?"

"Of course. A day to train Reggie should be enough to get him acclimated and then we'll battle. I actually have a wyrmnir that might be a good battler against a flock of bird pokémon, but she's in some sort of cranky mood lately. She wouldn't listen to me the last couple of times I let her out to play. Would you believe I actually had to battle her into submission with my other pokémon?"

Nova was puzzled. "Why don't you go visit the Dragon Gym in Argentum City? I was there a little while ago. The gym leader is pretty much a dragon whisperer."

"Yeah, I met Long. Got a badge from him, too. I was just thinking that I should go back there but it would take a while and I don't want to spend too much time going backwards. I have kind of an important project ahead of me."

"Use this," she said. From somewhere inside her jumpsuit she apparently kept all her belongings. All of the external pockets were insignificant, probably because of the knife feathers mentioned earlier, but she found an interior pocket with a mini-disc in it. She handed it to me. Even though I could read the label myself, she told me, "That's a hidden machine—Number 4, actually. It can teach your pokémon the technique Fly. Use that and you can get from one town to the next a lot more quickly. I realize you don't have a flyer right now, but it might help in the future."

"Thanks," I said. "That's really nice of you. Don't you still need it?"

"Nah. Scar already knows how to Fly. If I train another flyer in the future, I can always come here. Byrd has, like, a million of those."

Suddenly a thought crossed my mind. "Hey…" I trailed off quickly because I suddenly questioned whether I should even ask such a favor to someone I just met.

"Yes?" she asked.

I said, "Is there any chance you and Scar could fly me back to Argentum for a day? You said it yourself: It'll be much faster than walking. I can pay you for it."

As all the ways this girl, who appeared to be my age, could freak out and sic a flock of bird pokémon and their trainers on me using only a whistle flashed through my head, she shook me by smiling. "I'll tell you what. We'll take you to Argentum tonight, you pay for a decent inn, we'll hit the gym tomorrow, and then we'll fly back here tomorrow night."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Why not? I do a favor for you here and you can pay it forward for someone else someday. You want to head into the village and purchase some thicker pants or chaps for the trip? Scar's wings are pretty sharp."

"I'm looking forward to it. It'll be exhilarating."

No doubt the day to pay the favor forward would come up soon, and I'd bet my entire trainer sponsorship that Team Omega would be involved.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks go to <strong>Psychotic Ralts<strong> for contributing Nova to this story. She fit in well here as one of the few OCs offered that has a flyable pokémon. Nova will be around for a few chapters to assist Gus in the favor he soon tries to pay for the people of Wolfram._

_**Trivia:** Wolfram is the Latin name for the chemical element of Tungsten. That's why Byrd gives out a Tungsten Badge. Wolfram also just sounds cool._


	48. Dragon Rush

Dragon Rush

Taking flight on the back of a pokémon is like nothing I'd ever felt before. Before takeoff, I braced myself by wrapping my arms around Nova's waist, uncertain what to expect. My grip tightened as her skarmory jumped into the air and flew into the wind. Tears streamed back on my face as the wind perpetually shoved against my face, no matter which way we turned. Maneuvering through the trees, swinging low every now and then only to get a better angle to swoop back up overwhelmed me with nausea. And the shaking! Every second of it, I clung tighter and tighter to Nova's back, wishing my legs would suddenly sprout those little hairs that spinaraks use to stick to flat surfaces. You know, like the ones Spider-Man has.

But once we got airborne and soared over the treetops, the sailing was much smoother. There were moments even when it didn't feel like we were moving at all, except for the perpetual feeling of the wind slicing me open. Speaking of things too sharp to touch without protection, skarmory-back is not my recommendation for how to fly. When given a choice, saddle up on the back of a pidgeot or a fearow or something. Even a large beedrill or a reasonably calm charizard would do the trick. If you're patient, ride on the back of a rapidash. Better yet, strap a couple of them to a carriage and make the trip that way.

Nothing with knives for skin. That's all I'm saying.

Once you get past the bloody legs and the feeling of not knowing where to hold on because pokémon don't come with handles, the sensation of flying can best be summed up by the word exhilarating. Those few times when I had the courage to look down through the clouds to catch images of the sweeping fields of grass where Elly went on her little rampage or to the castle in the heart of Stibium City where Valence turned his entire organization against me, I realized how small a lot of those things are. In the moment, they each felt like the entire world to me. But the region was vast! I could see the Gallium Mountains jutting into the sky and I spotted the Tellurium River coursing through the land toward the ocean far to the southeast, and yet I couldn't see where either landmark began! The river disappeared into the base of the mountain range before I could locate its source, and the mountains sliced clear across the region as far as I could see.

From this altitude, my problems seemed to matter so much less.

Nova turned her head to the side and shouted, "Beer mucky! It's a weird clay."

"There's clay in your beer?" I shouted back. "That _is_ weird."

"No!" she shouted again. The wind resistance really took her voice away almost the instant she began talking. It was tough to understand her. She put more emphasis as she repeated, "Leer Ray!" She still wasn't making any sense.

"What is that? Some kind of new attack technique for skarmories?"

She shook her head. This time she tried pointing below us toward the swirly clouds. "Clear… day!"

"Clear day? What does that have to do with anything?"

Instead of going through all that miscommunication again with an even longer phrase, Nova just pointed down toward the mountains.

Argentum City came into view as Scar the skarmory began to dip lower. He swerved around a few puffy clouds and sloped gently downward, increasing the rate of our descent. Every few seconds, Scar would sweep his tail end up to the right and then back to the left before retaining his straight-ahead approach. Nova explained later that he did that to keep his bearing the way he wanted it. The wind naturally pushed against him and could force him off course if left unchecked. He angled himself as a way of being effortful in recovering his trajectory.

Landing was easier than taking off, but felt about six times as terrifying. Scar's feathers began clattering together as he spread his wings to catch whatever thermal updrafts he could. The sound gave me visions of ramming into the ground and bouncing along a street full of rocks and some metal debris, just like you see in action movies. But Scar never collided. He maintained control of the descent the whole way, slowing so completely he practically hovered over the pokémon center before he finally landed on the front porch with a touch as soft as bouncing on the bed.

"There we go," Nova said, patting Scar on the back of the head. She swept some snow off his beak and neck. She lifted an arm and angled herself so she could get a good view of me, still clinging to her as if I believed letting go was a suicide pact.

"We're safely on the ground now," she assured me. "You can let go and hop down now."

I realized how it probably looked with me holding so tightly to the back of a girl, and so I let go and immediately slipped right over the side of Scar's slick, steely body. The snow broke my fall, fortunately. Too bad it was also the cause of my slide. The extra moisture in the air really made Scar's body wet and slick when touched by the nylon exterior of the snowsuit I had smartly donned before planning a trip to the mountain peaks.

"I told you to wear the leather," said Nova. "At least you didn't stubbornly try to wear those shorts you had on in Wolfram. Your skin would have frozen to Scar like superglue. I'm not sure even withdrawing him into a pokéball would separate you two then."

"Trust me when I say I'm glad I'm not naked," I agreed. The snow was higher than it had been when I left the city last time. Back then, Lauren and Blade and I had walked away with the snow halfway up my shins. As I stood and brushed off my coat sleeves, the snow came up past my kneecaps. The air stung my cheeks. I pulled the aviator goggles up onto my fur cap and felt my eyelashes bond in frozen matrimony.

Nova hopped down from Scar's back, patted him again, and then recalled him into the pokéball. Flying-types don't enjoy the cold air, she explained. She also went into a succinct explanation of how the weather can make landing a flying pokémon rough and used as an example the wind resistance that can't be avoided. When it's snowing, imagine that same wind resistance but colder and blinding.

Finished with the flying lesson, she said, "It's still a little early for dinner." She looked into the sky for a time estimate. Personally, I always used my watch—at least until I was twelve years old and lost three watches in the span of one week playing games that had nothing to do with miltank tipping, climbing trees, or scaling people's houses. Since then, I use my phone's time display.

I didn't pay dinner the attention I normally would. I lifted my leg until it was clear of the top of the snow, planted it slowly until it hit solid ground, and then lifted it again. I couldn't even reach the ground under all of that powder. It just packed together underfoot like a barrier of white protecting the grass and sand.

"Why is there so much snow?" I asked.

"It snows a lot here," Nova answered. She checked the snow the same way I did. "I don't know. It's not that different from when I was here last."

"When was that?"

"About a week ago."

"Really? It's been a little longer for me."

She got excited. "Were you here when the hot springs dried up?"

"Um…" What was the right answer? Should I tell her anything about it? The idea of torturing a legendary fire pokémon underground just to keep the city hot sounded far-fetched. She probably wouldn't even believe it. "I didn't know the hot springs dried up. That must have happened after I left."

"It's a pretty wild story," Nova said. "You should ask someone at the gym to tell you about it. I assume you're heading straight there."

"I am. With any luck, Long is still hanging around and I can catch him before he goes home for the night."

She nodded. "Well, good luck. I'll call you after the sun sets and tell you where we're staying for the night so you can pay, as we agreed. In the meantime, I'm going to get in a little skiing while the weather is decent and the powder is fresh."

While Nova went off to enjoy the slopes, I headed straight to Mount Palladium and the three-headed bridge leading into the dragon gym. The extraordinary sight of a skeletal dragon of such magnitude was just as awesome as when I first laid eyes on it. I replayed my conversation with Elliott in my head. Odds are the bridge was manufactured by combining the bones of several creatures—possibly even designing synthetic bones made to resemble dragon bones without ever actually coming from a real being. No pokémon in my history books had ever lived to be that big.

But my mind couldn't skip the sheer wonder that came with imagining it was once real. A pokémon of that girth would present any battler with an automatic victory no matter the opponent. Or else it would threaten the lives of the entire region any time it sneezed. Plus, how inconvenient must it be to have three heads? Does that mean three brains, too? I often found myself at odds with my own best interests when making decisions, and I only have one brain. If I had to share my arms and my tail with two other entities who act just like I do, I'd commit a few unprecedented and divinely-inspired pranks before fighting over who gets to feed our shared stomach on a given day.

"Hey, Gus!" shouted a voice traversing the middle neck. It was Mel, the trainer who had tested me on the day of my gym challenge before my battle with Long. He was an older guy in his late twenties. His hair was noticeably thinning since I last saw him, but his heavyset frame had trimmed slightly. The dragon workouts were doing him some good.

"What are you doing back here?" he asked. "Admiring the bridge again, huh?"

"It's still a wonder, even a month later," I said.

He assessed my face and asked me if I was daydreaming again about having three heads and fighting over eating. I assured him that was a totally normal thing to think about when you walk across a bridge made out of giant dragon spines.

Changing the subject, he said, "You know you can only earn a single badge, right? Long has nothing new to give you."

I said, "That may not be the case. I need advice on dealing with a grouchy dragon. Few in the region would be more knowledgeable on such a topic, wouldn't you say?"

"There's no one who knows more about dragons!" he said, his voice brimming with excitement. "You know that wyrmnir of his is no picnic to train. Some pokémon are really resistant to learning new things from humans. Keeper is like that, but Long managed to make it one of the strongest pokémon you've ever seen."

"A reluctant pokémon, you say." The thought sounded too simple to be the solution I needed, but it was something to think about. Maybe a wyrmnir was just a difficult pokémon species to train no matter how emotionally close I was to her as a dragmor. "Do you know which arena Long is training in today?"

Mel contorted his face into an expression either of intense constipation or else of a high level of bewilderment. "I'm not even sure he's still here at this hour. He may have gone home for the day. His daughter has been sick lately, so his hours have been curtailed most days."

I stared for a moment until his face retained its former shape. "So you don't know where he set up training today?"

"He was probably down in the hot arena on the lowest level." Mel looked down the stair-like bridge toward the area we formerly felt heat rise from the volcanic vents. There was a lot less heat down there since Salamorder disappeared, though. Mel's gaze rose to the ground-level bridge and subsequently to the sky arena up top. "He wasn't in the cold arena where I just came from. And usually when he's up top with Keeper we feel tremors all day. I haven't felt anything out of the ordinary."

"You just said tremors would be considered ordinary if he's with his wyrmnir," I said.

"Well, you know what I mean," he said.

Just then we both saw a tall, giant of a man climbing the sloping bridge. His body stretched so much that he took the vertebral stairs two at a time. It was unreal.

"There he is!" I said. The joy in my voice expressed both my desire for Long to stop and speak with me and my ability to recognize objects that are close enough for me to see. The lanky gym leader wore a dark green, polyester jacket with elastic hem and cuffs and a pair of pants made of the same material and fitted for a man one size bigger than he was. Most men who reached his height would fill out the jacket with their proportional circumference, but he was a slender man who literally grew up instead of growing out.

"Still here, Melvin?" asked Long as he neared the top of the bridge. He looked down to me and recognition sparkled in his eye. "And Gus! What a surprise! Why are you back here so soon?" As he spoke, the black hole in the palm of his hand made my arm disappear up to my elbow, only to reappear after a brief shake.

"I'm in need of assistance," I said.

"Oh really? Nothing's wrong, I hope," he said.

"I hope so, too," I agreed. "Do you remember my dragmor Elly?"

"Sure," he said with a nod.

"Good news is: She evolved. She's a wyrmnir now, complete with red scales, scary mandibles, and all."

He beamed. "Congratulations! I knew you would train her well. You're well on your way to being a pokémon champion." He wasn't directly patronizing me like the logical part of my brain suspected at first. He was just encouraging me. There was still a lot of training to complete before I could match Champ Nelson in a battle—or even Long when he goes all-out—but he wanted me to believe I was almost there because it was that thought that kept trainers even younger pushing themselves to be stronger.

"I appreciate that, but I'm having a little trouble with her."

Long hunched over just enough that he was almost down to the level of my face. Bending like that gave his right shoulder a hump.

"Did she stop listening to your commands?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Kind of. I mean, I don't know if she wasn't listening or if she just got focused on what she was doing… which was ignoring me."

"Did she attack you?"

"No!" I thought back to that battle with the lombres. After she made a snack out of them, she did pounce in my direction. I rolled out of the way easily enough, so maybe she wasn't eagerly trying to hurt me. But still, she came close. "Actually… Maybe? She missed."

"I see," said Long. "So she attacked in your direction but gave you ample time to get away? That means she doesn't want to hurt you. But fighting back at all means she was frustrated and lacked respect for you."

"She lacked respect?"

"I believe so. How long before that event did she evolve?" he asked.

"A day," I answered.

His nods deepened. "Yep. That's what happened. You see, sometimes pokémon outgrow their trainers. Or at least, they think they do. Dragons in particular make it difficult to maintain command. The roots of their power go far beyond our human ancestors. Few other species of pokémon can match them overall for strength, grace, and cunning combined. As such, they get selfish and vain."

"But Elly was such a happy dragmor."

"Personalities change as pokémon grow just as they do in people. A youthful dragmor may be happy and carefree while she is removed from battle, and yet she will grow to become ardent and steadfast as she is trained to withstand the grit and grime brought in the arena. Such alteration in personality is especially likely in evolved pokémon. They literally transform into a brand new pokémon, allowing a much greater swing in how their personality manifests as behavior."

"Then you're saying," I interpreted, "that Elly started out like a steel-skinned puppy because she avoided fighting, and then she grew more vicious because I trained her to deal with the pain and to appreciate the challenge?"

"That is a partial explanation, yes," Long said. "The rest goes back to nature. How she acts now is partly governed by her instincts as a wyrmnir."

I paused. All of what he said made sense and I understood the main points, but I couldn't draw from it the knowledge I needed to answer the really important question. "So what do I do? How do I make sure she's not going to make an appetizer out of me the next time I try to summon her for a little exercise?"

"Earn back her respect," he said. "Tell me; what did you do when she attacked you? Did you run away and withdraw her into her pokéball?"

"I couldn't. She basically protected the pokéball so I couldn't get to it." Using what he described, that moment brought to mind the fact that she never did break the pokéball. Had she done that at any time, she would have freed herself from captivity if that were her real goal. "Since that wasn't an option, I brought out my immolion and my golfoam to battle her into submission."

Long beamed at me again. His grin was so wide I could see every Scrabble tile-sized tooth in his mouth. "Good choice. I take it they were able to follow your commands and subdue her in her rampage?"

"Of course."

"Then I suspect you may no longer have to worry about your fresh wyrmnir giving you attitude." Long added, "You have already reminded her that you are the one in charge."

His attention fell to the watch on his wrist. "I am sorry, Gus, but I must hurry home. My family needs my attention tonight. I hope that helps you with your problem."

"Wait!" I protested. I felt abandoned in the moment. "I need you to help me train her some more. You know, to be sure she's going to continue listening."

"I'm sure she already will. You may use the arena here to summon her if you want an area no one will be hurt. But I will come back tomorrow if you desperately want my help. Come in after breakfast and I will put together a short, special training session just for you two. Good night, Gus." With that, he headed back into the heart of Argentum City and left me alone in the snow. I didn't pay attention until that moment, but Mel was long gone, too.

I held Elly's pokéball in the palm of my hand—watching, wondering, waiting…

"Here's goes nothing." I pressed the release switch and watched the electromagnetic energy take shape.

* * *

><p><em>I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that a new chapter of this fabulous story will give you a reason to dread Monday a little less.<em>  
><em>I never realized before I started writing this story how difficult it is to give adequate focus to a wide array of pokémon. They're like additional characters that are easy to remove from the scene if they get too unruly. This project definitely gives me respect for the anime writers for all they do.<em>

_As before, Psychotic Ralts has my thanks for contributing Nova to the story._

_**Trivia:** I have decided to balance the workload of my three big writing projects by alternating weeks. That means I am hopeful you will be able to see an update on this story every third week. (If anyone here reads my Yu-Gi-Oh! work, you will see the same pattern for that one, but on different weeks.) Fingers crossed I can keep to the schedule!_


	49. Headbutt

Headbutt

"Dragon Breath!" I shouted.

A beat later, Long commanded, "Twister!"

My first thought was that his response to my mid-level dragon attack was a weaker attack. Possibly he thought his wyrmnir was strong enough that it could produce a low-level cyclone that wouldn't be dwarfed by my wyrmnir's more powerful attack as would normally be the case. You know—kind of like mutually-assured destruction when two pokémon attack simultaneously. But that wasn't his intention at all. Elly took a moment to breathe in and convert all her energy into the not-quite-fire, not-quite-electricity breath attack that she was so good at, particularly after a spicy breakfast. In that brief instant, Keeper was able to generate a whirl of energy that surged in front of him. The whirlwind was quicker to form than the breath attack because of its weaker inherent power. When the Dragon Breath hit the Twister, the two attacks merged into a single, devastating tornado. The heat was enough to make me sweat even while surrounded by ice and snow and while standing more than twenty meters away. Even though some of the initial Dragon Breath swirled around and was flung in Keeper's direction, some of it also flew back at Elly. As the tornado died in between the dueling dragons, they each suffered only minor damage from their canceled attacks.

As it turned out, Long was right about Elly. She wasn't eager to hurt me, nor did she particularly wish to pick a fight with Reggie or Siggy a second time. She was just a growing girl going through her cranky phase. It was the same phase my sister had been stuck in ever since she was old enough for the Elder to start asking other ladies in the village to come over and talk to Brooke for him. Some days were worse than others. In all honesty, Elly was easier to handle in a bad mood than Brooke… and less of a threat to my life.

When Elly evolved, her personality intensified. That was part of the explanation, anyway. Like Long had suggested, deep down inside she was still the same big, steel poochy that I had purchased that day in Cuprum City, but she was changing. Elly was stronger and more capable of independence now. When she grew so large that just being nearby threatened me, something in her mind triggered that I wasn't the alpha in the relationship anymore—that she could take care of herself better without me. And so fighting back was just a power struggle, and one that I completed successfully when I refused to cower but elected to fight back. Technically Reggie and Siggy fought back for me, but the point is that I didn't allow Elly to run rampant without delivering a punishment for the act. She was over it for now, but I worried about what would happen the next time she gets in that mood.

Our battle continued for only another five minutes while I regained my confidence in Elly and learned the lesson behind the advice Long had offered me. "Sometimes the point to training in a pokémon gym isn't to teach your pokémon new moves of a certain type. You can also learn the strengths of weaknesses of species you don't use in order to help your pokémon grow more efficacious in battle."

That was what he had told me when I voiced my concerns about the Bird Gym in Wolfram. Yes, I have a flying pokémon who can learn a few things, I had explained, but I don't have any actual bird pokémon. He had argued that not every trainer that came through his Dragon Gym was learning how to train a dragon. On the contrary, fewer than fifty percent of his visitors had a dragon pokémon in need of Long's help; rather, they wanted to become strong fighters against dragons. It was just as vital that anyone with aspirations of success in the pokémon world should learn about the pokémon he does not command as the ones he does command.

Long demonstrated the necessity to me through the training exercise. Every time I called out an attack that a dragon-type pokémon would use, he would counter it somehow, such as nullifying a Dragon Breath through a Twister. He also used examples from his battle with the Champion Nelson. Aside from being the regional champion, Nelson came into the contest knowing already that Long was a user of dragon pokémon and that they are some of the strongest pokémon out there. He selected his team based on that knowledge and trained them to use techniques that would defend against dragon attacks and target dragon weak spots. In that battle more than any other I'd witnessed, Nelson showed me that a real champ knows how to defend as well as attack.

Altogether, it made sense to me. I would never become the champ if some kid came along with a bird pokémon and kicked my butt just because I never practiced against them and never learned how to hold attackers at bay.

The extra reason for ending our session a little earlier than I would have liked was a business one: Long had a gym to run. He had only allotted an hour to one-on-one training with me.

"I'm sorry we cannot continue to battle," he said to me. "Today will be a busy one. Three trainers have made appointments to challenge me for a Silver Badge."

"Are you bringing them up here to the Sky Arena?"

He grinned. "Maybe I'll spare them the pain of battling Keeper for today. It will give him time to rest after the workout Elly has provided. The respite will benefit him."

Elly didn't seem to want the breather, though. She was yowling up a storm in Keeper's direction. From his reaction, she was obviously a bother. Anytime he turned away, she would ram her face into his hide, hoping to turn him back to face her. He wasn't having any of it, though. When she got to be too much, he raised his paw and smacked her hard across the forehead, deftly missing the sharp protrusions sticking out of her face.

"What is going on with her?" I asked Long. "She hasn't shut up all morning."

"You do not see it?" he asked.

"See what?"

He grinned again, giving me the same look one might give a five-year-old asking a grown-up question. "She is in heat."

"I don't see how," I replied instinctively. "It's cold as a nervous jynx's feet ever since the hot springs died."

Long shook a finger at me. "That is not what the term means."

"Oh." Slowly the full meaning dawned on me. "Oh!" And then, "Ew!"

"It is nothing to worry about," Long said. "Dragons do not experience the same hormonal cycles as mammalian pokémon might, but they do go through mating seasons all the same."

I asked, "Can't you do something to help?"

"No. Keeper is much older than she is and shows no interest in breeding. Her condition is completely natural. She shouldn't give you too much trouble for it. I would expressly recommend keeping her away from male dragons, though. Presumably you are not ready to deal with a litter of newborn dragmors."

"Um," I stammered. "_All_ male dragons?"

He nodded. "Strange as it may seem for cross-species mating, it is possible or even likely that any dragon pokémon would recognize the change in her hormones and react accordingly."

"There are a lot of dragons out there I don't know about," I said. "Thank goodness for my pokédex."

"Be careful about that," Long said. "Compatibility among potential mates is not based exclusively on what we consider to be dragon-_type_ pokémon. Any pokémon that has draconic ancestry can be considered a dragon. Remember my arbok? How about the sceptile you saw Nelson use against me? Each of them is part of the dragon taxonomy, compatible with more obvious dragons. Think of the many pokémon you have seen train in this gym. I do not specialize in dragon types but in the dragon taxon. Identifying the creatures Elly responds to won't be as easy for you as reading the pokédex."

"Could I just watch how they act around one another and remove her from any pokémon that show some insurmountable attraction to her?" I asked.

"It's riskier, but that might work," he said. He scratched his head and considered the solution for a moment. "On the other hand, dragmors are a rare breed. If you choose to allow Elly to breed, there is a day care designed for pokémon in Hydrargyrum Town."

"A day care? Isn't there one of those in all the major cities? Like this one?"

"Yes, but the one in Hydrargyrum is the only fully equipped facility in all of Perioble. They have an entire division dedicated to pokémon breeding and not just to personal care. If you bring your wyrmnir there, the proprietors should be able to find a suitable mate. Otherwise, she will return to normal in time. To deal with her in the meantime, here are some tips to care for her. Firstly, reduce her contact with other pokémon, as I mentioned. You are unable to detect it with your human senses, but Elly's body is producing a powerful hormone that will attract potential mates for her. Keeping her in her pokéball will help allay the production of such a scent.

"Keeping her hidden may also help with her behavior. Pokémon in heat oftentimes exhibit excessive anxiety and excitation. Just give her time and a little space, or else keep her inside the pokéball. You can help soothe her by brushing clean her scales or playing calming music. Take these tips and you two will be fine. Now I'm afraid I really must leave you. Do take my phone number and contact me sometime for a rematch. I would cherish the opportunity to view your continued development."

Long left me with the option of training Elly in the Sky Arena for as long as I wished that day. I did stick around for a while and let her burn off some steam. Like he had said, Elly was overly rambunctious. The arena was like a big playground for her. Even though I didn't really understand what she was going through, I can say that being in heat involved a lot of head-butting the mountains. I used to do that to the wall a lot as a kid, especially if I was sick. As uncomfortable as it was giving myself a headache, it always focused my pain into my head instead of whatever was ailing me… plus it felt good when I stopped. Vomiting means it's working, right?

I couldn't be sure based on a single training session how difficult it would be to handle Elly in her condition. But by the time the lunch alarm sounded on my Hermes, I figured that bump on Elly's head was as big as it needed to be. I had never seen steel swell like that.

While I was in Argentum City, it occurred to me I should hit the slopes again. What's the expression? Dust some powder, I think. I mean "go skiing." That's where Nova went. Our plan was to reconvene shortly after lunch and head back to Wolfram Village.

I looked to Reggie for advice. "What do you think, Reg? We can head back to the gym and scrimmage with some dragons, we can surf the mountainside, or we can go get something to eat." His ears perked up and his jaw dropped, loosing a short mew. He knew that word. It was one of his favorites. "Yeah, I think food is the right way to go."

We stopped in a little café in the area that used to be in summertime. You know, before I spoiled the environment by removing the heat source… and giving it to the enemy. Who then used it against someone else in order to steal another legendary pokémon. How depressing.

Trying to keep myself positive, I plopped down at the bar and ordered six dishes of spicy barbecue. It was one of their old dishes, but it was more popular since the beach disappeared beneath blankets of snow. Reggie downed five bowls of it and spent the next half hour alternating between hiding in the bushes and dragging his butt across the snow. Just one bowl was enough for me. I got away with only sinus drainage and the urge to pee, but the latter was because I drank a pitcher of water to keep my tongue from calling the fire department on me.

When I emerged again, I looked to Reggie. "That was almost as bad as the Salamander Spice. Double or nothing for dinner?" He tilted his head to the side so far that he fell over. "Yeah, you're right. I like my intestines where they are." While he was on his back, I bent over and scratched his belly for just a moment while he stretched as far as his huge paws would go. And then I retreated quickly. I barely whisked my arm clear of his claws at the moment he decided he'd had enough.

"Hey," said a voice nearby. It came from a guy dressed in a heavy, sky blue snowsuit with a knit cap pulled down tightly over his head. He was just walking up to the café counter as Reggie and I were headed away. "You look familiar."

"So do you," I said, although it was a lie when I said it. If he had been any more covered up, he wouldn't be able to breathe. We each took a step closer to one another. It seemed like a silly standoff to me, so I made a face—exaggerating my cheeks and opening my eyes widely to get a good look.

"You look a little like a guy I met in Stannum Village a few weeks ago," said the guy.

"I was in Stannum Village a few weeks ago," I confessed, holding staunchly to my expression. Suddenly it hit me who the guy was and I lost my ludicrous face. "Drew?"

"Gus," he remembered. With a smile he extended his hand in the exact same motion he had done so when he tried to usher me out of the Hydrogen Emperor's childhood home. It was the same kind of handshake the Elder's friends would give me when they wanted me to leave so they could tattle on me to my adoptive dad.

He glanced down and then furled his brow as his gaze returned to meet my eyes. "Did you know your fly is open? And there's a pencil sticking out of it?"

I looked down and couldn't believe that he was right. Embarrassed but not about to show it, I said, "Yes, I do."

He pressed his lips together and watched me warily for a moment. "Forget I asked." Suddenly a look of epiphany crossed his face. "Hey! Aren't the marshals after you?" he tattled.

I tried my best to look surprised, like I could not possibly have the slightest inkling to what he was referring. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, a little while after you disappeared down into that secret basement, the village suffered from a few earthquakes and a sudden heat rush. When things calmed down, a man with a big hat and a tin star emerged from the basement. He said he was with the Perioble Marshals and he had cornered two criminals down there. He would have arrested them except they had pokémon with them." Drew narrowed his eyes at me. "I know you are aware that Stannum disallows pokémon to enter the village proper."

"Don't look at me!" I protested. A quick silence passed between us as Drew glanced at Reggie. "Don't look at him, either. He was inside his pokéball and locked in that silo thing at the front gate, just like they requested."

"So you're saying you didn't break any laws?"

I hemmed and hawed for just a second. "I was trespassing. But you deduced that fact as soon as I showed up on the property."

"Yes, I did," he said, obviously proud of himself. "You didn't do anything else illegal?"

"No. That marshal is crooked," I said.

Drew flinched and looked puzzled. "Really? He seemed pretty legit to me. He carried himself with the most confident swagger I've ever seen. I wonder if he ever considered putting a patent on that walk."

"Um… okay?"

Drew glowered at me. "Definitely didn't seem like the kind of man who would be scared off by a kid, but then again, he said your pokémon attacked him. His jacket was scorched. The cinders were still burning on the fabric when he called the village sheriff's department."

I put my hands in front of me to distance myself from that story. "I never burned him!"

"You have a fire-type immolion right there," he pointed out.

"That's beside the point," I said with a scoff. "He burned himself on his own pokémon, which he stuffed in the ammo shelf-thing for that gun he carried in his waistband."

"Why would he do something like that?" Drew asked.

"Let me answer that question with another question," I said. "Why was he afraid of two teenage criminals and their pokémon if he had a gun?"

He folded his arms over his chest and stared at me. I could almost see the wheels turning inside his head. Drew seemed like a really smart guy. If anything would convince him of my innocence, it was pointing out logical flaws in Ray's story. It seemed to be working.

"You told me your pokémon were in the village silo," he said finally. "Just now, you said the two criminals each had pokémon."

"I was going by your story, judging his reaction given the worst possible conditions," I replied calmly. "I also said I was not a criminal, and that remains true. Except for the trespassing part. In my defense, the only way I could know that place was off limits was by the sign out front, and I try not to believe everything I read."

Drew nodded. "I also told you."

"And I forgive you," I said. Changing the subject through arguing the point wasn't working too well. Time to introduce my alter ego with experience in the military, Major Segue. "How's the climate research?" I asked him.

"Good memory," he said. That was easy. He may have been just as eager to change the conversation as I was. "I'm only studying the atmosphere and my research results aren't compiled yet," Drew said. "I've collected day-to-day temperature readings and checked the Doppler radar for patterns in meteorological changes for less than a week. It'll take a lot longer than that before I can draw any definitive conclusions. Aside from that, I am still waiting for the Department of Weather to get back to me with the readouts from a decade ago."

"You still haven't compared today's weather to the past weather?" I asked.

"Records are retained available on the internet only for the past year. That's useful information, but to my earlier point, it takes more time than that to prove change, especially in something as dramatic as the environment."

I smirked. "All of that being the long way of saying you don't know anything about how different the climate is yet."

"I know plenty about the current weather of the mountains," he said sounding somewhat defensive. "But listing the daily temperatures does about as much to explain the climate as taking your daily temperature explains your overall likelihood of disease. Let's not even discuss how climate isn't simply the way the atmosphere affects the region. A climate system comprises the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere, and the biosphere. My research is preliminary at best. Studying changes in the atmosphere takes time, but it's what I'm studying. That's all I'm technically studying. I know of other researchers here who are in the process of studying the mountains and the lithosphere. No doubt they will find groundbreaking news about what caused the hot springs to die out. Anything I learn from them is outside my research grant."

Pointing at him, I beamed. "I see what you did there. _Ground_breaking?"

"That was an accidental pun," Drew said. "Seriously, something huge is going on. Even the biosphere is changing rapidly. Gossip spread this morning that someone spotted a rare pokémon on the mountain—something that has never been seen here before. And that's just today. There have been other, similar rumors over the past ten days. Whatever changed around here, it's huge. No one is going to figure it out within a matter of weeks. My graduation will come and go long before we can pinpoint a certain cause."

Hesitation settled in on me. That was a lot of information to take in from only a simple question about his college studies.

"Go back to the part about the rare pokémon," I requested.

"Of course," he said, sounding impatient. "It's no surprise your greater interest would be in the appearance of a noivern and not in the collapse of the environment around you."

I waited before asking, "What's a noivern?"

Drew produced a look of disgust. "Aren't you the trainer? Shouldn't you know about other pokémon?"

"I can't be expected to know everything, can I?"

"Do you know _anything_?" he asked.

I froze for just a moment. "I'm going to be honest with you. That hurt me. Right here," pointing to my heart. "You should buy me a bowl of the spicy barbecue here as penance." Even Reggie buried his nose in the snow at the mention of spicy barbecue. Suddenly the bushes sprang to life, bursting into flame. I was stunned into inaction, but fortunately the cold air and snow smothered the flames for me within sixty seconds.

Reggie and I made eye contact. "Did that stuff give you spontaneously combusting poops?" He only stepped forward and rubbed his face into my arm. At his weight, he could have knocked me over.

"Something tells me you will live longer if I do not provide you anymore spicy food," Drew said. "But I do apologize for my glib remark." He sighed a deep, heart wrenching sigh. "I feel increasing frustration with my research here. A creature such as a noivern has never been seen in this region before. Not once in the entire recorded history of either pokémon or the region's ecology."

"What kind of pokémon is it?" I asked. Rare pokémon on the mountain sounded exactly like what I needed. My team was still only five deep. Traditional trainers got along best with six pokémon in their arsenal. I was doing pretty well for myself with only the five, but packing in a sixth pokémon to fill out my roster was definitely what the gym leader recommended. And a rare pokémon! Who wouldn't want that?

Drew said, "You should look it up online. You might at least find a picture."

"I have a pokédex," I said, whipping it from my satchel and failing to scroll successfully thanks to the slick material on my thermal gloves. I removed one glove and scrolled through an alphabetical listing of pokémon.

"No, that won't work," he explained. "A pokédex only gathers information on pokémon its lens has witnessed. If you've never seen one, the pokédex should lack any entry for it."

"Here it is," I said, pulling up a picture of a bat-like pokémon that appeared to have sound speakers in its head. They reminded me a lot of the whismur/exploud that Brooke caught-slash-ruined my eardrums with. "Ultrasonic waves that can crush boulders, huh?" That didn't sound like something I wanted to go anywhere near. Certainly my pokémon didn't deserve that kind of punishment in battle. But then I noticed, "Oh! It's a dragon, too. Long said I should keep Elly away from them for a while."

Drew was still struck by the contents of my pokédex. "I'm impressed. Is it possible you've seen a noivern and forgot?" The question seemed more rhetorical than intentional. He hunched over and stood tall in succession, each to get a look at my pokédex on all sides. "Let me guess: You didn't receive that device brand new."

"This old thing?" I said. "No. I got it from an old man."

"An old man who is well-traveled, I'd wager," he said. Extending his palm toward me, he asked, "May I?"

"Sing some Vanilla Ice?" I said, completing the sentence for him. "Of course you may. Not only is it the appropriate environment for such an aptly named rapper, it would be a tremendous honor to watch someone as nerdy as you dance a little 'Ninja Rap.'"

He was unamused. "I would rather examine your pokédex for a moment."

"Oh, that," I said, dropping the device into his palm. "Go nuts." Speaking of which, I yanked my oversized snow glove back over my knuckles. It did not take long for the cold to get under my skin.

Drew didn't have nearly so much trouble scrolling through the pages. When he poked the screen, the system responded instantly as if he were touching it directly. "How are you doing that?" I asked.

"They're touch-screen gloves," he said, offering me a glimpse at the fingertips. Most of the fingers were the same black fabric as the gloves, but the thumb and forefinger had some sort of pointed padding sewn inside the gray cloth to facilitate screen poking. "You should get some. Well worth it in the snow."

I smiled. "That will be second on my wish list this year, first being transportation to someplace warmer."

He stopped paying attention to me. Every bit of focus in that information-packed cranium was centered on my pokédex. He gave me a flabbergasted look and then returned to the pokédex. "You have listed in here every pokémon I've ever heard of, plus a few hundred I haven't. It's unreal. This list includes the pokémon of legend I told you about—the ones that are supposed to be only a myth."

"You mean the craisins?" I asked.

"The Creators!" He sounded like my joke was going to give him an aneurism. Settling down, he decided, "There must be some sort of information hack on this device. I mean, the fire dragon Salamorder couldn't possibly be a living creature. Its fire was said to scorch whole lands in a single blow."

I said, "I think the word is _hyperbole_. It was hot, sure, but nothing that bad." He made a face, but I was rescued by the sudden ringing of my phone. I answered to hear Nova's voice. She reminded me that we were scheduled to head back to Wolfram this afternoon while the weather was still clear and before the sun set. I promised to meet her at the Pokémon Center post haste.

"My ride is here," I told Drew as I reclaimed my pokédex. "But listen, I'd like you to give me a call as you learn more about the changing climate. This is fascinating stuff." I wrote down my number on a take-out menu from the café and handed it to him.

"Really?" he asked. "I suppose I can let you know if I learn anything unusual. Maybe it'll be helpful to have your number in case I have more questions."

"You probably will," I agreed, "because I'm about to suggest where you should go after lunch. It might be difficult to find now that the hot springs are drying up, but it shouldn't be too bad if you know where to look. Start at the southern end of town and on the exit path, look to your left for a little walkway you can traverse to sidle around the mountain. I'm sure you'll find a few answers to your questions down there."

Drew cocked an eyebrow. "What will I find?"

"The Salamander Temple."

* * *

><p><em>Thanks go again to <strong>BNVshark<strong> for contributing Drew to the story. It's helpful to have a character researching the way the environment has changed since the events at the Salamander Temple. It has only been a short time so far and the city hasn't recovered fully yet, but soon enough the economy will bounce back. Odds are pretty good Drew will play a significant role in that. But that's a story for another time._

_I also have to extend thanks to **Riverlightillusion** for proofreading this chapter for me and locating a few typos. With his help, no one else in my story will be shrouded in green clocks!_

_Next time, Gus and Nova return to Wolfram Village. Gus begins his training to learn how birds battle, but he must hold off on challenging the Gym Leader because of personal habits the man picked up from the Jinn Temple. What is Gus going to find when he goes to investigate the temple? If you've noticed a pattern already, then you can probably guess. But to learn the philosophy of worship, you'll have to read!_

_**Trivia: **Accommodating pokédex functionality given the prevalence of modern smart phones is weird. How would you not know what a pidgey is when the internet is available everywhere for free? I wanted to make it seem like a portable encyclopedia and yet still let it record new pokémon like a game/anime hybrid. More details will be revealed into my ideology as the story goes, but it starts with the pokédex downloading information on pokémon identified in person so it will be quicker to retrieve at a later date._


	50. Feather Dance

Feather Dance

I felt bad about leaving Drew back in Argentum City while I returned to Wolfram Village on the spiny back of a skarmory that, somehow, became even knifier in the saddle area while its trainer was out skiing. But at least I left him with my phone number for when he finally figured out which questions he wanted to have answered. First, he was likely to focus on studying the temple and figuring out the connection between it and the dramatic change in Argentum's climate. Who knew how long that would take? Maybe he'd even call some of those geology friends of his. I wondered if they would be able to figure out the events with Salamorder even before I told him my story. I guess I'd find out how smart the guy turned out to be.

As soon as we landed on the wooden gangplank near the Wolfram pokémon center, I thanked Nova for the ride but insisted, "I really have to get out of these snow pants." I was still wearing the entire ski getup that had proven necessary to prevent my blood from turning into an iron-flavored Slurpee. A few people were out and about along the raised walkways, mostly heading toward the establishments specializing in food—nearing suppertime and all. A few hung around talking to one another or just trying to stay out of the way. None would mind a teenage boy stripping off a few superfluous layers, I assumed.

She frowned at me. "I warned you Wolfram was going to be about twenty degrees warmer than Argentum was."

"Twenty?!" I said. My voice was muffled as I yanked the snow suit over my head. The collar temporarily got caught on my chin until my neck popped. After that, it slipped right over my ears and I was able to breathe again. I still wore a t-shirt that I had to straighten out. "Twenty degrees? It's more like thirty-five." I dropped the snow coat and started on the billowy pants.

"Yeah, I was using Celsius," she said.

"I got news for you. We won the war."

Nova frowned again, this time cocking an eyebrow pointedly. She had really flexible eyebrows. "What war?"

"The war against people who want to base temperature on water. I mean, come on. What sense does that make? At least Fahrenheit is based on human behavior. Who cares what temperature water starts to boil? I care what temperature people start to boil, and that's about a hundred degrees."

"That's interesting," Nova said. She ran her fingers along the side of her head. Her skarmory pressed its head up against her shoulder and drew her attention. She turned to give the bird a berry from her pouch while she continued talking to me. "I know people in this region use Fahrenheit as a supplement to Celsius, but I've never heard it explained that way before. You think of Fahrenheit as a scale of temperature's effect on humans versus Celsius as temperature's effect on water."

"That's right." Being without shoes of any kind left my feet cold. But how was I supposed to wear boots with the gym shorts I had on under the snow pants? That's just crazy talk. I had a pair of running shoes in my bag.

"But one hundred degrees is not the maximum temperature a human body can withstand," she added. "Nor is zero degrees the lowest."

"It's pretty much all the body can handle on a regular basis," I said. "You can't stay in colder temperatures for more than a few minutes without suffering hypothermia. And if your core body temperature rises any higher than that, you'll boil your innards."

"Fascinating," she said. If she weren't just humoring me, then it didn't take an awful lot to impress her. "You're, of course, not saying the scale is perfect or even that it applies exactly to every single person, but it does seem pretty close when you think about it. I suppose that is a fair argument for favoring the use of Fahrenheit in certain discussions."

I said, "Glad I could help."

I was also glad the conversation was over. My strip show had drawn the attention of a woman a few years older, just standing on her own by the edge of the gangplank. Her hair was a dull red color, wrapped up into the tightest bun I'd ever seen. She wore a black cloak over her shoulders. Judging from the lack of color in her face and neck, I guessed the cloak was meant to shield her skin from sunlight. The last pale woman I met turned out to be a captain for Team Omega. I decided to approach, at least getting close enough to see if the woman had red, albino eyes. If she did, I was ready to call Elly and defend myself.

The woman shied away from my gaze but did not turn to run. She was the worst spy I ever saw… unless she wanted me to know she was watching me just to keep me scared. But her body language didn't agree with that possibility. If anything, she appeared to be disgusted with me, turning away to let me know she wished I would leave.

On approach, I noticed she was even shorter than I was—maybe an inch or two over five feet tall. When I finally got too close, she scowled at me and barked, "Excuse me. What do you want?" Her eyes weren't red. But they weren't natural, either. Gray eyes? I'd never seen that. It could be the perfect color for someone trying to hide, though.

"You look familiar," I said, squinting at her face.

The lady turned her whole body away this time. Seeing her from all angles showed me her petite figure. Her facial expression before I lost sight of it suggested that I was creeping her out. "Why are you squinting?"

"Squinting makes it easier to see people critically," I said. "Funny how no one ever taught me that. I figured it out all on my own."

"You don't say," she said wryly.

Nova stepped in to save me. "I'm Nova. He's Gus. We're just in from Argentum City."

"I'm sure it was a lovely trip," she said, continuing her dry tone. Notice how she avoided asking any questions? That was because she really wanted us to move on without scrutinizing her any further.

"I got it!" Suddenly her identity dawned on me. Well, not her identity, really. But I remembered where I saw her. "You were at the casino when I was in Cuprum City! I remember you. Blackjack, right?"

Her back still to me, she turned her puzzled face to look me in the eye. Now she was trying to figure out if she'd ever seen _me_ before. "That is my game. The odds tend to be as good as they'll ever get in a casino that way. I never remember seeing you there, though. Of course, I would probably just as soon ignore a child in that place as I would other leering men. My guard is usually up given all the drunkards trolling for dates."

"There's a connection between alcohol and lewd behavior?" I said as if hearing it for the first time. "I wonder if anyone has studied this relationship." In fact, it's true. I rather enjoyed the look of sheer incredulity given by both women. "Come on. I was kidding. You two act as if I never watched television before."

The lady allowed as much as the corner of her lip to curl up in what could, if someone reeeally wanted to see it, be construed as a half-smile. "For all I know, you're from the smallest, backwater village in the entire region."

"Which is exactly why TV kept me sane," I said, allowing her to believe I was from the tiniest village in Perioble. You know… because it was true. Changing the subject to something more significant, I asked, "What's your name?"

The lady displayed enough of a sociable façade to answer. "I go by Nette L. I'm only in town long enough to meet with Byrd."

"You're meeting the Gym Leader," I said. "Does that mean you're a trainer, too? I plan to challenge him to a gym match tomorrow. Maybe even this evening if I get over there before he closes up for the night."

"He won't see you today," Nette said. Shaking her head emphatically, she added with drawn-out words, "Neeever sees anyone without at least threeee days' advance notice." She also held up three fingers to make her point. Her tone as she drew out the words led me to believe she thought it was a stupid rule.

I cocked one eyebrow as I considered her comment. A question formed in my mind. "I thought it was _advanced_ notice." So I didn't voice it as a question. Oops!

"_Advance_ notice," Nette assured me. "Advance means 'ahead of time.' Advanced means 'on a higher level.' It all comes down to the definitions of words. " Nova nodded her agreement.

"I've heard it both ways," I said. The conversation really deserved no more defense than that. "Three days, though? Is he really that busy? I haven't seen but maybe three trainers come in to challenge him the whole time I've been training here," I said.

Nova spoke softly to me. "You were only in the gym for one day." I hushed her lest she spoil my point.

"Trainers aren't his only time allotments," said Nette L. "He always plans his entire schedule seventy-two hours in advance with everything from challengers, training appointments, masterclasses, sessions with his own pokémon, and time spent on self-development. Plus, I heard he goes out most nights each week to clubs and bars and that restaurant that does the karaoke—Canary's, maybe. I think he's looking for a girlfriend."

"Really," Nova asked, though with her inflection it sounded more like a statement lacking any surprise. "I would have thought a guy like that would find women to be cesspools of manipulation and falsehoods."

"Apparently he's hitting that age where he thinks it's time to get hitched," Nette said, "regardless of whether or not women interrupt his oneness with nature. Sadly for him, I could never date someone who could not defeat me in battle." The ensuing wink was a little too coy for my taste. She struck me as the type who would declare herself superior to anyone she defeated in battle, and yet if she did find someone who achieved victory, she would hold a grudge until she became strong enough to retake the title, at which point she would lose respect for the person who once beat her. It was a vicious cycle with women like that. This woman was undeniably talented as a pokémon trainer, but she was clearly a prima donna.

"You've beaten him in battle already?" I asked. "What kind of trainer returns to a gym where she already earned a badge?"

"One who does not place the value of her self-worth on trinkets but recognizes that an opponent beaten today may be strong enough to turn the tables tomorrow." She frowned disapprovingly at me. No doubt she was judging me for not knowing the answer to that question prior to asking her.

Before she could annoy me into saying something I might regret, Nova stepped in to ask, "Why does Byrd schedule his days so strictly? That seems strange coming from a man whose demeanor is very go-with-the-flow."

"Byrd holds himself to the highest standards of diligence. A lot of people make greats efforts to reduce their workload and make every day a vacation. The Jinn Temple rejects that notion. According to their core tenet, the way to a fulfilling life is to keep busy."

"That sounds hard," I said.

"I think it sounds smart," Nova said, contrasting my comment. "If all you do is lounge around, then what good is a vacation? You have to work through whatever bitter days come your way in order to appreciate the sweet feeling of relaxation."

Nette nodded her agreement. "That's part of the philosophy. One of the ways to ensure you are properly assiduous is to plan your days. For most people, making a to-do list is good enough. Byrd prefers to manage his schedule down to the hour. Personally, I do not mind engaging in idle chit-chat as long as the occasion is rare." She looked down at her wrist. "Sadly, the time has come for a prior engagement. I must leave you now." She offered a nod that lasted just long enough to pretend she was leaving with a modicum of respect for the two random children she met.

"Bye," Nova said. "Good luck with Byrd!" All I could offer as a farewell was an amused scoff combined with a slight lift of the chin as if to say either, "What's up?" or "Bring it on." Nette turned around too soon to see it either way. She gave a stiff-armed wave in response to Nova's parting words.

"Oh, she's wily," I chuckled, amused by her whole personality.

"What do you mean?" asked Nova.

As if the facts were as plain as day, I said, "She wasn't wearing a watch. There was nothing on her wrist at all. She just wanted to get away from us."

"So what?" Nova asked. "Some people lack the skill to hold conversations with people they do not know. Maybe she even lacks the desire to be seen as friendly. Could be she is terribly shy. Possibly some sort of trauma in her past shaped her temperament this way."

"That's true. Come to think of it, when I saw her at the casino, I was talking to a marshal who pegged her as a child runaway."

"Oh, the poor thing," Nova said. She looked genuinely sympathetic to the woman who was so rude to us not two minutes ago. "Sure, she's an adult now, but maybe she's scared to talk to people because she's afraid her location will leak to whomever she ran away from. I guess that means Nette L. is just a pseudonym. I wonder what her real name is."

It didn't really concern me. Nette didn't appear to be in danger of anything, except maybe someone slapping her for being so brusque. She seemed to regard me more as vermin than as another human being. But that's just a first impression. We could still turn out to be best friends! After all, I may make a decent first impression and a lousy second, but my third impressions are outlandish!

"Suppose she's right about the three-day waiting period," I said. The sun was not far from setting, but the birds were still out and about. Silhouettes of large birds dotted the horizon. "I think I'll go see Byrd now and put in my reservation for a match. That'll still give me three days to get ready. Or maybe I'll get lucky and he'll count today as the first day so I only have to wait two. Either way, sooner is better, right?"

"You make a good point," Nova said. "I'll go with you."

Wolfram Village was normally a quiet place. Whatever issues might normally pop up from rodents or bugs living the trees were pretty much quashed before they could arise by the sheer bird population. Even when people chose not to train their birds for battle, they still exercised other useful behaviors, such as aerial delivery and collection of items. I saw a pidgey fly past with a written letter tied to its ankle. A hoothoot wrapped its talons tightly around some package shaped like a broom.

Even with all of that natural hubbub, the volume of bird noise going on this particular evening was insane. I could hear feathery wings flapping like a hurricane blowing through. There could be no more squawking and chirping piercing my ears if I were in an aviary. Turns out that was an apt comparison because the Bird Gym had been transformed into just that. The front gate to the gym itself was chained off, but the area right outside where the sky was visible and clear was crowded—full to the brim. Possibly every citizen of Wolfram packed into wooden bleachers lining the walkways along with several dozen tourists. I even recognized Walter when he waved at me—the guy from the information hut with the infatuation for long vowels. I waved back, but there was no open space nearby him for me to claim. A grand gathering had taken place while Nova and I were out of town. Whatever the occasion, we made it back just in time to see what the commotion was.

"Ooo, hot dogs!" I said, hurriedly moving to a street vendor. He had parked his cart right down the way from the bleachers and was making a killing off the congregation. After I ordered my two hot dogs and tried to forget about the last time Brooke told me how they were made, I asked the vendor, "What's going on out here?"

He was a stout man with thinning hair, which he tried unsuccessfully to hide under a chef's hat. His expression was peeled into a look of such glee as I'd not seen in a long time.

"You mean you don't know?" he said. "Today's the Wolfram Air Show." He had the kind of accent that made him sound like he should be hairier than he was.

"Whaf fa Larval Air Foe?" I asked, my words distorted by a mouthful of hot dog.

"You must be tourists," he said, finally sizing up me and Nova. The fact didn't seem to bother him, though. He kept the smile. "It's where the local gym leader and some of his trainers put on a grand display of techniques and maneuvers that can only be described as aerial dancing. It's really a fascinating sight to see these birds fly in loop-the-loops, smoke formations, and general razzle dazzle." He pointed to the small stage in front of the gym's gate where a woman was stepping up to a microphone. "Oh! You'd better hurry! It's starting!"

"Okay!" I replied, not intending to mock his level of enthusiasm the way I did. But seriously, the guy talked with exclamation points at the end of every sentence. No one should be that happy about a bunch of birds flying around.

With the bleachers full, Nova and I found some standing room where we could lean against on the street signs. She elbowed me gently and pointed to the microphone. "Look who it is." Shortening the microphone stand so she wouldn't have to stand on her tiptoes to speak was none other than my new BFF: Nette L. Her cloak was drawn back over her shoulders, presenting her dark purple corset dress with black tights underneath and enormous stakes sticking out of her knee-high boot's heels into the floor underfoot.

"That's totally not the look I imagined for her under that cape," I whispered to Nova.

Finally Nette found the adjustment for the microphone stand that she needed. It was time for the Wolfram Air Show to begin.

"Ladies and gentlemen and children gathered here this evening, welcome to the Wolfram Air Show. I am Nette L. of the Elite Four and I will be your narrator for this event." Not only did she know how to speak elegantly in front of a huge crowd, she was capable of dropping a bombshell in the middle of a sentence.

"The Elite Four?!" Nova repeated. "Of course! I knew the name sounded familiar. I've just been pronouncing it wrong. I never thought the E on the end was supposed to be silent." She looked at me excitedly. "She's our region's ghost-type specialist. Isn't that incredible? We actually met and spoke to a member of the Elite Four!"

I was right there with her. "My BFF is a member of the Elite Four," I uttered in star struck amazement. Matched only by the regional champion, the Elite Four comprised the greatest collection of pokémon trainers imaginable in Perioble. There was nothing I would ever learn that those four trainers didn't already know.

"The maneuvers you will see demonstrated here this evening are coordinated, tactical techniques that were developed by fanatics of bird pokémon during peacetime training and during actual combat. These maneuvers are neither stunts nor daring feats but are refinements of basic techniques taught to every bird pokémon trained for skill and battle. Our team will perform these aerial maneuvers for you today at low altitudes so that you can view and take pride in the level of skill taught to and attained by the trainers of your Wolfram Bird Gym."

Four trainers dressed in orange polyester jumpsuits stepped up as Nette introduced them to the crowd, each accompanied by a prototypical bird pokémon carrying some kind of berry. One was led by a large and healthy pidgeotto. Its colorful plumage looked sleek and shiny. One was led by a plump staravia with the kind of curl in its crest that resembled a cowlick. One was led by a slender tranquill. The mauve feathers around its eyes contrasted its black and gray down, giving it the illusion of attending a masquerade ball. The fourth trainer was led by a twitchy fletchinder. Every movement was faster than the eye could follow; from its graceful hop to the way its head moved instantaneously each time something caught its eye.

The four trainers spoke to their pokémon. A split second later, all four birds shooed from the ground and made rapid strides to climb to higher altitudes. As soon as the last one left the ground, all four assumed a tight-knit formation in the shape of a diamond in the sky. They turned and flew straight toward the sky. Despite the dramatic difference in the size, shape, and distribution of mass between them, the four pokémon managed to mimic one another perfectly, as if it were really just one bird up there with three shadows. Suddenly streams of multi-colored smoke began to billow from the tail ends of the bird as they arced through the sky, righting themselves for just a moment before they began to dive. They broke the dive in different directions, trailing another stream of colorful smoke as they traced the shape of a pokéball in the air. Within moments the smoke dispersed and the pokéball looked like a piece of popcorn exploding in the microwave. The crowd oo-ed and ahh-ed at each new maneuver. Visually, the presentation was very exciting.

The diamond formation resumed with a steady climb. Holding tightly together—so tightly they could keep each other warm on a snowy day—all four birds rolled 360 degrees through the air in the exact same motion, timed with such precision it was like all the bodies possessed a single mind. My eyes were so riveted to the sight I couldn't even hear Nette describe the technical names of the maneuvers to us. After just a few more techniques displayed from the diamond formation, those four birds descended and returned to roost upon the ground.

Two new trainers stepped up, each accompanied by a different pokémon. The next bird to take off was a lanky fearow. Its size gave it swift access to the upward thermals and it achieved perfect control over its ascent. It was no higher than fifty feet when it began to barrel roll constantly while still gaining altitude, spinning infinitely without ever breaking its trajectory. When the sixth bird—a noble-looking braviary—took flight, it reached the same height of fifty feet just as swiftly. But this bird suddenly pulled its beak straight into the sky and assumed a sheer, vertical climb. At its zenith, the braviary just as sharply made a U-turn into a harsh dive aimed straight at the ground. The bird pulled up at the last possible second, nearly brushing the walkway with its belly as it swerved back into the air.

The fearow and the braviary turned toward one another as if targeting for a flyby. Two seconds after they began to fly toward one another, they each rolled until their colorful crests were visible to us and their bellies faced the sky. As they approached one another, they rolled again—each in a different direction—so that they passed by unharmed and returned to a righted position. Each of them turned toward the ground and descended sharply. On their way down, they swirled around one another in flawless synchronicity until they landed and returned to their trainers.

"And finally," spoke Nette L. Beside her stood a man dressed in a fancy, pinstripe suit complete with a fitted fedora and an inordinately long feather sticking out of the ribbon. "The man you've waited to see: the Gym Leader himself, presenting his Sialiary Squad of Six, performing their patented blah blah while holding a blah blah without any blah blah." My BFF could really drone on when everyone just wanted to see the pretty birds do some aerial daredevil stuff! Byrd took several deep bows and really absorbed the praise being thrust in his direction.

But I'd never seen a sialiary before. At least I was familiar with the other birds so far. All I knew about these birds was that Elliott had mentioned having one. I slipped my pokédex out of my satchel and took a look.

_194-Sialiary_

_Blue bird Pokémon_

_[Flying]_

_Average Height: 3'9"_

_Average Weight: 79.4 lb._

_Evolution researchers have cited this pokémon more than any other. Because of its evolutionary lineage, this creature was one of the first pokémon to prove evolution is not strictly part of the aging process. Evolved from saberaeus. Evolves into algesus._

A quick look showed me that saberaeus was a sort of scarab-shaped pokémon while algesus was rather equine in appearance. I could understand why there would be a lot of confusion when sialiary was first discovered. Even my discerning eye saw nothing out of the ordinary: a bird shrouded in sky blue feathers with fringe feathers of violet on the ends of wings and the tail. Its beak was long and crooked, probably perfect for picking bugs out of tree trunks as snacks.

Once Byrd's six pokémon were aloft, the six brethren sialiaries assumed a formation like a stack of bottles at the county fair: three, two, and one. Flying upward above the position of the waning sun, they arced back downward and each released a stream of white smoke. The formation remained so tight while the entire group whirled through the air that for a moment, one bird disappeared behind another. The lines of smoke were as perfectly placed as the lines on a music staff.

The sialiaries maintained their V formation as they swooped low over the crowded bleachers. They completed a full circle to ensure everyone had a sufficient opportunity to see them for all their splendor and realness. No illusions for this show. When the circle completed near the gym gate, Byrd threw six berries into the air. Several onlookers gasped as they worried what might happen when obstructions were thrown in the birds' path. The only minor break in formation was when each bird snatched a single, imperfectly-thrown berry out of the air, but the formation returned almost instantly.

For the grand finale, the six birds turned to climb straight up into the sky. Their smoke trails changed color behind them right before they all split off into separate directions, leaving behind the image of a huge weeping willow formed from the combined billow of clouds as its six limbs dragged back down toward the gangplanks below.

Nette wrapped everything up by leading a round of applause for the six trainers and their fabulous teacher. I admit they earned it, but setting off the fireworks was probably Byrd going a little overboard with soliciting adoration.

As soon as the thought occurred to me, I rushed the stage to tell Byrd I wanted to challenge him in three days, but with the deluge of spectators pouring out of the bleachers temporarily blocking me, Byrd had time to disappear before I could even see which way he went. The six trainers from the show lingered to talk to the fans and sign autographs (_seriously, people?_), yet somehow Nette L.'s ambience awarded her the bubble of personal space she no doubt desired to maintain. Aside from waving and shouting questions from a short distance away, no one accosted her.

Except me. "Hey, Nette. Long time no see," I said casually. She showed no outward appreciation for my joke, but I'm sure she was laughing on the inside. Everyone loves a good irony joke. Sighing, I added, "Man! That show was pretty cool. I'm glad I made it in time. I was seriously hoping to get my name on Byrd's list so he can pencil me in three days from now, but he practically disappeared while I was stuck in that crowd."

"If I told you where to find him, do you intend to follow?" she asked me. Her eyes were expectant and eager, almost like she really wanted me to go with Byrd and leave her alone.

"I do. I need that badge," I said.

"Very well. He has gone to attend the evening vespers at the Jinn Temple. You'd better hurry if you wish to do the same. Shoo! Go on! Scram!" That BFF of mine was so funny, especially the way she prodded me on so hard with her knife-like fingernails that it kind of hurt a little.

"Thanks, bestie!" I said. But the urgency in her voice was real. I would need to hurry to the temple if I wanted to catch Byrd before the night ended.

Nova didn't have to follow me, but she claimed that, being a visitor, she never previously bothered checking into the local religion. Her plan had been as simple as mine: train at the bird gym for a few days, earn a gym badge, and move on. But not once had she been instructed to make her appointment for a gym challenge ahead of time. Maybe stopping in would give us not only a chance to make our appointments but also add a little insight into how he functioned.

The temple wasn't too hard to find. As I mentioned before, the entire village was like the world's most ambitious tree fort, stringing together vast stretches of treetops to connect people whose homes were built into tree trunks. But for whatever reason, the Jinn Temple sat smack dab in the middle of a clearing—or whatever you call the treetop equivalent. No tree branches came anywhere near it, and I could see why. A robed man walked an elongated circle around the temple, slashing anything that threatened to provide the temple with too much oxygen. Honestly, it made no sense whatsoever.

Unless maybe he was just trying to preserve the immaculate placement of the tiles along the upward-curving roof. A thousand obtuse U shapes lined the double-eave roof in violet, alternating between an upward and downward opening. The roof was supported over the temple by eight weatherworn pillars. Each pillar was decorated with two wooden carvings exquisitely crafted into the shape of a short, pudgy bird with two tail feathers extending almost as long as the pillar. Each bird sculpture perched facing toward the pillar so that their tails crossed in the empty space, except for in between the two center pillars. That space was left as an entryway to the temple.

The entire weight of the temple was supported by the trunk of a giant tree, sawn off at the foliage for maximum flatness. After all, who could worship without a level floor? Six different staircases and ramps led from all parts of the village to this temple.

"At least it's not too extravagant," I said only half joking.

"Clearly you have not been inside," said Nova. I shuddered to think, and rightfully so.

It turned out the temple was not truly two-level, except perhaps along the exterior of the roof. Inside was a single, cavernous cathedral lavishly decorated with silk tapestries and ornate panels. Commandments and psalms crawled along support beams and ceiling rafters. Oak pews still reeked of fresh lacquer as they lined the floors between four red-carpeted aisles. Stained glass windows wrapped around the center of the high ceiling. Every colorful window was topped by a star designed in such a way as to appear ten-pointed along the outer rim and yet only eight-pointed within the interior. Six concentric circles encompassed the star.

But the most important feature of any place of worship is the altar. This one was impossible to miss, right there in the back of the cathedral atop a raised dais. Like a skinny pyramid erupting out of the ground as high as the nonexistent second story, the dais presented a glass case for all to see no matter where seated. And inside the case was a violet-and-green pokéball.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks go to <strong>Psychotic Ralts<strong> and** A Sea of Sound** for contributing Nova and Nette L. to the story. When I first came up with the idea for this story I wondered how I would introduce the members of the Elite Four. Treating one as a celebrity host for the air show seemed like a nice way to do it. If you're curious, the background music for that air show is called _Hot Shots! Main Theme_. At least, that's what was going through my mind the whole time I wrote it.  
>And once again, <strong>Riverlightillusion<strong> earns my thanks for proofreading this chapter for me.  
><em>

_In the next chapter, Gus and Nova will find out the focus of the local religion isn't merely a legend. With Indusylph's pokéball in the open for all to see, Gus knows Team Omega will be along soon to take it. He and his pokémon will have to find some way to ensure the Omegas never get their hands on another legendary pokémon._

_**Trivia:** **Sialiary** = _**Sialia** _(genus name for bluebirds) + **aviary** (a large enclosure for keeping birds). As per the strategy I've established, I am not the Name Guy. Pokémon species names are pretty simple from me. Even the species itself was designed to be rather simple save the evolutionary line alluded to in the pokédex. More on that later, though._


	51. Disarming Voice

Disarming Voice

In my journey to date, I had seen the resting places of six legendary pokémon. One was hidden beneath a deathly waterfall, one was buried under thousands of pounds of desert sand, one was hidden deep within a mountain, one was placed within the extinct remains of a volcano, and one lay within the very foundation of an entire village. At no point did I expect to find the sixth pokémon out in the open, just sitting there on a dais where every man and his bird pokémon could see it.

"Kind of strange to see a religion based on a pokémon," I suggested.

"Not that unusual," Nova said, edifying me to the religious history of other regions. "Shintoism and Buddhism are widely practiced, plus there was an entire cult Sinnoh a while back worshipping the creation of the universe. Maybe twenty years?"

"Oh, yeah. I remember hearing about that mythology. Arceusm, right?"

"It's actually pronounced 'Ar-kay-izm'—not 'usm.'"

I shrugged. "I've heard it both ways."

Two steps in the front door, we were accosted by a monk shrouded in floor-length yellow robes, tightened around his midsection by a belt that looked like a rope. The robe had a hood, but he wore it down around his neck, revealing a head that was so round and clean-shaven you could bowl with it.

"Welcome, young ones, to the Jinn Temple," he spoke. "I am Brother Madrine. Here you will find enlightenment and meaning in the daily toils you have endured." He motioned to the backside of the temple where laborers were busy constructing a brand new extension to the narthex. "We worship the spirit of Indusylph, the divine representation of wealth, commerce, and communication. Our order preaches that earnest work and honest profit will light your path toward peace and prosperity far more effectively than the ravages of wars ever could."

I was confused. "You guys actually relish hard work?"

"Aye."

That part of my brain that hated doing schoolwork had become flabbergasted. "Why? Sitting around and doing nothing is so much more fun."

Madrine was unfazed by my candor. He retained his soft smile. "Let me ask you this: How can leisure have any meaning in the absence of hard work?"

Nova chuckled beside me. "That's what I say about it."

"Pssh," I replied, elegantly spitting all over the closest pew. Good thing the monk sitting there had his hood up.

Madrine continued his soliloquy, unfazed by my disbelief either because he was used to it or he didn't notice. "Productivity speaks greater to the soul than relaxation does. Firstly, hard work develops self-respect. Have you ever spent time playing a video game only to look at the clock and realize the time has come for sleep? You wiled away your entire day completing a task that contributed no development for you or others around you. You have gifts meant to be shared with the world. When you waste the most divine gift of time, you show you are content to dwell in selfish mediocrity. Is that truly how you wish the world to view you?"

"Sounds like an awesome day," I said.

"On the contrary, one should endeavor to fulfill one's true potential and make every precious hour count."

"That makes sense to me," said Nova with a shrug.

I scowled at her. "Don't fall for his malarkey." I looked back at the man. "You said self-respect was the first benefit of hard work. What's second?"

His smile widened, despite my resolve to antagonize him the whole way. "Hard work fights depression. Humans are hard-wired to feel the benefits of utility. That is, we desire to feel useful. Robbed of that feeling, we languish in an abyss of despair, without a clear identity or purpose."

Shaking my head just slightly, I said, "Admittedly I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish a project. Sometimes that project is a really hard level on a video game, though." Honestly that was just to bait the guy. The Elder thought video games were a bottomless pit of dwindling intelligence. Never mind the fact that the games I played gave me the timing and coordination I would one day need to climb the waterfall without getting myself killed. Old folks just don't understand sometimes.

"Tell me, Gus. What is it you do with your days here?"

"Here? Well, I go to the bird gym and learn the weaknesses of battling bird pokémon."

"Is that so?" he asked. "It must have taken hard work to bring yourself this far. Think back to when you first began. Are you the same person you were at that time?"

"No, actually," I said. That seemed like the answer he expected to hear. "I drank from this clay goblet in the desert and metamorphosed into my present state. Before this, I used to be much taller and a woman."

Somehow Madrine ignored my flippant remark. "Whether through transformation or maturity, the troubles you have endured and the obstacles you have overcome refined your character and made you into a better man."

Nova laughed to herself. She was getting a kick out of watching me try to make this man break the party line, but I was failing. "Man! You are unflappable!"

"It is true," said the man, beaming with pride. "I cannot be flapped. It is among the benefits I derive from my worship of Indusylph. Would you hear our modest prayer?" He failed to wait for an answer before he bowed his head and chanted a short mantra. "Come to me, O guardian Indusylph, for without your aid, indolence and lethargy may claim me when only through struggle and labor can I achieve greatness in your name." He looked up at me. "Do you know what that means?"

I was still feeling glib. "That without your invisible friend a shiny object would stop you from dressing yourself in the morning."

"It means that faith in Indusylph will give us the strength to devote ourselves to hard work and prevent us from falling into a spiral of inanity." Same thing, different words.

"Isn't Indusylph a bird?" I asked, pushing harder now with my skepticism. "How is a bird the best example of hard work? They don't even have thumbs."

Madrine still bore the heavy-duty smile that could come from sleeping with a coat hanger in his mouth overnight. "Our vespers will begin shortly. Perhaps you would stay and bear witness? You may even find the opportunity to speak with Prior Roremani. His guiding light is what founded this religion. He will hold the answers to all your questions."

While the monk walked away from us, I asked Nova, "What's a vesper?"

"I'm not sure either," she said. "Let's take a seat over here and find out." Not only could we find out a little about this Indusylph religion, but every pew had a clear view of the altar where Indusylph's pokéball waited. I say "waited" and not "rested" because there was no doubt in my mind that someone was on his or her way to steal the legendary pokémon away.

We found out that a vesper was an entire prayer service scheduled for the evening time. The service began with a rendition of that same plea to the bird deity not to let us grow lazy and to always be the early bird. When the voices of an entire cathedral congregation attempted to speak in unison, it sounded very monotone and drone-like. As soon as they finished, everyone stood and withdrew from under the pews a hymnal, providing them the words to butcher and music to ignore. Although rhythm wasn't awful for most of them, they just sang in whatever key they wanted. Never had my ears experienced such torture, and I'd twice been subject to the relentless screams of Brooke's little whismur/loudred pokémon.

When the song finished, everyone sat down except for the guy on the podium in front of Indusylph. Older than The Elder, his monk robes were nothing like Madrine's. Instead of plain satin, he wore violet silks that reflected light as readily as a mirror would. No hood shrouded his face. Instead, he wore a miter the size and shape of a baby phanpy, bedazzled with jewels that matched Indusylph's pokéball in rarity.

"He must be the representation of how hard work leads to riches," I commented snidely to Nova. "I would have thought some kind of morality guide would choose a more humble appearance."

"I recognize him," she said.

"You do?" Feeling bad about mocking the religion for a moment, I asked, "He's not your dad, is he?"

"No!"

"Oh, good. Because I mean it. He's way over the top with the money. Why not just fashion his robe out of money directly? Or throw it at us. That's a good way to prove your level of wealth is something we'll never obtain."

Nova interrupted me. "Seriously, I know that face. I can't remember the guy's name, but that's definitely him. He was on the documentary I watched about the Cult of Arceism. I'm pretty sure he's the same guy who founded that cult."

"Really?" I wondered, suddenly intrigued with the service. The man on the altar had moved on to reading from their scripture, which was also located beneath the pews and conveniently bore the image of the old man's smiling face. "What a nice coincidence that this religion's sacred, ancient text just so happens to have its patriarch's visage as a logo. I thought Arceism died out, like, fifty years ago. How could the guy still be alive?"

"He was very young when he started it," Nova explained. "I imagine most people have forgotten about him since then. I don't remember the name on the documentary," Nova said. She struggled with it, though. The guy probably used a different name from his previous cult, and it was stuck on the tip of Nova's tongue. Finally she gave up. "I don't think he went by Prior Roremani back then, but I can't recall what it was."

"Don't worry about it," I said, flipping through the book. "We'll ask him about it after the show."

"You mean 'after the service,'" she corrected me.

"Either works for this situation."

After Minister Moneybags finished his sermon, he engaged the congregation in a call-and-response prayer that apparently everyone already part of the Jinn Temple knew by heart because I didn't see it written anywhere. Not very visitor-friendly. Next on the agenda was a call-and-response musical number where, once again, the term "musical" is giving this particular congregation a little too much leeway. Friar Fancypants said aloud one more prayer, and then everyone recited the benediction, which sounded a lot like the plea for focus that Madrine had told us but rephrased entirely using synonyms.

Nova frowned as the congregation began to exit the cathedral. "That service really dragged on. I thought it would never end."

"I had fun," I said. The sacred text of their religion was still in my hand. "There are some truly fascinating stories in here! Did you know that when Indusylph was still a chick, it battled against the divine Arceus who created the universe and lost? Big shock, I know. But through a combination of determination, perseverance, and old-fashioned formula storytelling, Indusylph trained hard and proved that hard work can overcome any obstacle—even divinity, apparently." I closed the book and slid it under my pew. Hopping to my feet, I surveyed the area to locate our next quarry. Abbot Affluence disappeared from the dais momentarily after the benediction, but his shiny robes were hard to miss as he made his way back to the altar, probably to count the change from this evening's collection plates.

"Excuse me, Pastor Prosperous," I shouted. The pews were close together so I had to sidle my way down the row to reach the aisle that he had just traversed.

Already on the dais, he slowly turned to look at me. It's possible that look of irritation on his face was the result of my name-calling. "Visitors to our humble temple?"

I laughed so hard I snorted a little. "Humble, yeah." Finally the distance between us shrank to only a few feet. He stood over me on the raised dais, glaring down past his flaring nostrils in a way that must have made him feel so powerful. It made me feel safe if it rained inside.

Pointing gently as I spoke, I said, "I have a few questions about that." He followed the trajectory of my finger to the pokéball towering over his head.

"Yes, kid. Indusylph is a real legendary pokémon," he said. As if he thought he could anticipate my questions, he added, "You may not see it. That glass case hasn't opened in almost a thousand years and it will not open tonight."

He somewhat predicted my question. "You're saying people follow the advice of a bird pokémon without ever even seeing it?"

"The example set by the stories of Indusylph is where we draw honor and glory," he said. "Read the scripture and you will understand the tenets of Jinnism."

"I was reading a bit during the battle of the bands you had there between the choir and the congregation. Your sermon was also intriguing. Seeing as I'm new, can you give me the Cliff Notes version?"

"Of course." His words were friendly but his expression was anything else: conniving, dismissive, and angered mixed in a bowl and plastered onto a human head. "First, to live your life as Indusylph would, you must plan your day. Reasonable people squander much of the day wondering what to do next. Know your schedule and be diligent. Set worthy goals, considering what you must accomplish that day and endeavor to prioritize it. Your goal should always benefit yourself and your fellow man. Every action you take in the day must affirmatively answer the question, 'Does this help my goal?' Likewise, do not begin with goals that are unreasonable for it will only discourage you when you might otherwise succeed on the path.

"Eliminate distractions." He glanced at Nova when he said that. If he thought girls were nothing but distractions, then I could explain how he had the time and patience to invent two different religions. "Being human, you will find it nigh impossible to be industrious from dawn to dusk. To combat that human nature, follow the guidelines affectionately referred to as the 48-12 Rule: Complete forty-eight minutes of nonstop work fully focused on the goal you established, and then take a twelve-minute break to rest your mind and restore your mental capacity."

"Fascinating philosophy," I said. It really didn't sound as much like hooey as I thought it would. I asked, "How is that different from Arceism?"

In a flash, the color drained from his skin. Roremani quickly pasted on his face a smile of such understanding and forgiveness that I almost atoned right then and there for the sin of knowing too much. But no amount of prevarication or friendly banter could hide what he revealed to me in that fraction of a second. Nova was right. He was the same guy in the Cult of Arceism. He started this worship of Indusylph as another get-rich-quick scheme, and it was successful.

"I'm afraid I know very little about Arceism," he lied. "That sounds like a Sinnoh religion."

"It is," I conceded.

Nova stepped in with her two cents. "Don't you think it's kind of strange for a religious leader to have no familiarity with other religions of the world?"

That wasn't a road I wanted to travel with this guy. I pushed her aside and put myself directly between her and Roremani. "Sorry about that, Reverend Rich-man. I just want to confirm: Indusylph is definitely in there?" I pointed to the pokéball again.

Roremani was happy to segue, no matter how abruptly. "Of course. That case is impenetrable. The forefathers of this temple saw to it the pokémon would never be disturbed."

"Is there any kind of key to open it up?"

"There is no such key," he said. "If there ever was, it has been lost to time. It is likely gone forever."

"You've tried bombarding it with pokémon attacks?" I thought it was a valid question. Sure, most trees were strong enough to resist a head butt from even the most hardheaded of creatures, but one could never be too careful with this particular box.

Roremani sighed. Finally my questions exhausted him and he was forced to sit in the pulpit. "Fire can't melt it, rocks can't smash it, steel can't pierce it, and psychic maneuvering has proven futile in picking the lock. Consider its construction to be something of the fifth element—a substance heretofore unknown to humanity and, therefore, unconquerable."

"What about electricity?"

"This glass-like material is an insulator," he replied. "What is this truly about?"

"Yeah, Gus," Nova said. She gently touched the crook of my elbow. "Why are you so curious about that pokéball?"

Of all my options, the truth seemed like the easiest explanation. But not the one I went with first. "I'm a box aficionado," I said. "The fact that this receptacle has remained undamaged for a thousand years fascinates me. I would love to build a replica for my Voltron action figures—you know; help the value appreciate by keeping it in mint condition."

For reasons far beyond my comprehension, neither of them bought my story. Nova was even so audacious as to tell me flat-out, "That's not true. The only receptacle you mentioned the whole time we've been in here was the pokéball itself."

I glared at her across the span of an instant. "Way to tattle on me," I snapped. I turned back to Roremani and admitted proudly and with full, open body language, "Alright, I confess. I'm worried that someone will soon be here to steal that pokémon."

Nova gasped. "What?"

"Preposterous," scoffed the patriarch. "Such a feat is unheard of. Nay, it is impossible. No human or pokémon alive can infiltrate that box."

"You underestimate the resourcefulness of Team Omega," I assured him. "Plus, I'm not so sure they're all human." I listened to the old man hem and haw for a few minutes, fully realizing how ridiculous the notion may sound that a thousand-year-old religious relic may suddenly be of interest of people. "If you're so certain of the pokéball's security, then it can't hurt to let me keep an eye on it for a few days, right? I can help guard it as long as I'm in town."

"Guard it?" the old man said with a laugh. At first I was sure he would object on the grounds of some fabricated right to privacy. To my surprise, however, he said, "You may aid in the protection of this shrine if you so wish."

"I may?" I asked, taken aback by the answer. Suddenly I wanted more. "Okay. My compensation is five percent of the collection plates."

"No," he replied instantly.

"How about a special psalm tomorrow telling Byrd to accept my gym challenge a couple of days early?"

"No." Again, no hesitation at all.

"Access to a water fountain so my pokémon and I don't dehydrate."

"Deal." See? You just have to lower your standards enough and people are much more amenable. "Now I beg your leave." He shuffled away as quickly as his old legs would take him. His gait might be smoother if he weren't weighed down by all that opulence, but he escaped further conversation with me, just as he'd wanted to. His robes dragged the ground behind him and he walked with a hunch. I know it was just a side effect of aging, but it looked like he could have been dragging luggage behind him.

Nova looked puzzled when I turned to her. "You are so sure someone will come to steal that pokéball?"

"I am," I said. "Never more sure of anything. In the mother of all coincidences, why do you think one of the Elite Four is staying in the village? Do you really believe such a high-ranking pokémon official would come to this backwoods place just to announce for an air show? No, she knows there's something going on and she wants to be here to nab the perpetrators in the act."

"Maybe she'll arrest that fraudulent crone." Nova's tone was dripping with disgust. She couldn't understand how people could be so easily duped by the ramblings of a man who already proved himself a con artist to the people of Sinnoh.

"One problem at a time," I said. After all, Roremani was just suffocating the economy by leaving people with a little less money. Compared to Team Omega's ambition of gathering legendary pokémon, throwing the whole ecosystem into chaos each time, a little economic fraud was small potatoes.

* * *

><p>In my zeal, I had forgotten to schedule my gym challenge with Byrd at the Jinn Temple. Turns out he wouldn't have accepted it anyway. He admitted that while he can appreciate anyone with the bias for action to seek him out as soon as possible, he considered time at the temple to be sacred time. Those who interrupt his worship time there also upset him, thereby lengthening their wait for an official challenge, if they even receive one. Long story short: I had three days to prepare for my gym battle while protecting Indusylph's pokéball from Team Omega.<p>

For the next three days I practiced as much as I could with the other trainers in the gym, practicing with my smaller pokémon to grow accustomed to treetop battles. It took some time for them to move well enough to handle the fluid, stealthy ways that birds could move through the air. Several times I had a miniature heart attack when Siggy or Conch fell off a tree branch and I barely managed to return them to their pokéballs before they could fall very far. Fortunately Clara could fly and Reggie had sharp claws that helped him stay put whenever he got scared.

Reggie was getting good at leaping from limb to limb, too. He never once got stuck… after the first time he got stuck. Seriously, there was just this one instance where my poor immolion climbed so high he was terrified to climb back down. After I regained my composure and stopped laughing at the pathetic mews coming from such a large feline, I returned him to the pokéball to help. He was fine ever since that moment.

I spent lunch breaks at the Jinn Temple, always with either Conch or Siggy. Since they struggled the most when battling so high above solid ground, I allowed them to be the ones guarding Indusylph in my stead. I brought them lunch and dinner each day, often stopping to listen to a sermon preached by Roremani.

After one particularly rousing sermon about how everyone should work hard while young so the body will be well trained to work hard when it's old, Roremani approached me with a telling grin on his face.

"You've been here a lot lately," he said. "Are you still convinced some wicked force will attempt to steal our guardian spirit?"

"I'm surprised the thought never occurred to you," I said.

He put on that kind of smile your grandfather might when he's about to tell you a secret that took him forty years to realize, and he's hoping you'll understand without that forty years' experience. "I believe we are safe from that eventuality _because_ he is our guardian deity. Every citizen of this village is a sentinel to keep Indusylph from harm because his presence maintains our wellbeing. Without him, pokémon would grow wilder and may begin attacking people outside or even within the village."

I said, "I've heard that before."

"Then you understand that people can be trusted to act most securely in their own interests. If something is keeping you safe, why change anything?"

That sounded an awful lot like superstitious behavior to me. It's like claiming you avoid bad luck because you've never walked under a ladder. Like if just one time you walk around a ladder and experience some form of bad luck then you're going to start walking under it every time instead? I don't think so. But I chose not to voice my opinion in this matter. I noticed the people of Wolfram got a little testy whenever I questioned them about their religion.

"You're still okay with my coming here?" I asked, confirming what he had told me earlier.

"Your request was to help maintain the safety of Indusylph. Of course you may." He beamed at me. "After all, you may be doing Indusylph's work in your own way."

"Really?"

"Oh, yes," he insisted. "Just ask yourself this: Does your current goal benefit yourself and those around you?"

He gave me a moment of silence to reflect on my answer. I guess I hadn't thought it through until that question was asked of me, but Roremani preached Indusylph's "teachings" as a way to convince people to set goals and work toward them every day. Technically, wasn't that what I was doing? I came to the temple each day to ward off Team Omega, and any effort to keep them away was surely beneficial to my fellow humans. Not only that: It benefitted me and my pokémon by urging us to grow stronger—strong enough to fight off any one of those super-powered Omega officers that might attack.

"It seems you have your answer. You would make a fine apostle in the service of Indusyph," Roremani said. He appeared to be pleased with himself as he turned away from me, still dragging that luggage underneath his gown. Before he was too far, he called out, "Enjoy the service when you come in tonight."

With his back to us, he didn't hear Nova say, "I don't like that guy."

"Holy cow!" I yelped, startled by her sudden presence. "Nova? When did you get here?"

"I walked in with you," she said, giving me a look.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. You said you were going to check on your fishtain and Indusylph, and I said I was going to hear whatever baloney the preacher was doling out today."

I shook my head. "I have no recollection of this."

"You had half a meatball sub in your hand."

"I remember the sandwich," I said. My stomach growled pleasantly. "Definitely remember the sandwich. In fact, you've convinced me to go for another."

She nodded, but she didn't stand up to follow me. Her glare remained fixed upon Roremani as he conversed with other parishioners of the temple.

"You're seriously annoyed with Cardinal Luxury?"

"He's a fraud," she reminded me.

"He's not harming anyone. Plus, I don't think this is technically illegal. People have every right to stop listening to him at any time. There is no coercion for them to continue their worship." She didn't seem to buy my excuses. "Are you going to be offended if I go back to the gym and keep training?"

Nova paused for a painfully long moment before finally answering, "Go ahead. I'll be along soon."

"Okay." Hesitantly, I backed away from her step by step, keeping my eye on her each moment to ensure she didn't shoot me any dirty looks. When I reached a safe distance from her, I turned and hurried out the temple doors as quickly as I could. _All that and we're not even dating,_ I thought to myself.

Finally, it was the night before my gym challenge with Byrd. I stopped by the Jinn Temple once more to check on Siggy. As always, he was comfortable in his hammock, swaying gently with the current of air flowing through the narthex. He showed no signs of any action whatsoever, let alone signs of battling a would-be thief.

"I don't get it," I complained while I fed Siggy. "I've only ever been a few days ahead of Team Omega. How are they not here yet to steal Indusylph?"

Nova had joined me for the sermon once more despite her glaring contest with Roremani's backside. "How are you sure that you're ahead of them?" she asked poignantly.

I was struck by the lightning bolt of epiphany. She astutely pinpointed the root of the whole problem. "Of course! You must be right. Use your head, Gus!" I smacked myself in the side of the head, eliciting a wince and a soft yelp from Nova. "All the other temples were hidden. You just happened to be there when they were uncovered. This temple is out in the open air! How could anyone not know where Indusylph's pokéball was located?"

Nova frowned. "Are you saying Team Omega already knows about it?"

"They have to." My voice dropped as I admitted to myself the unfortunate next step I had to take in order to protect us all from Valence.

* * *

><p>Late at night, I crawled upside the second tier of the double-eave roof atop the Jinn Temple. I slid back down twice, but finally I found the right posture to shift my center of gravity where I needed it. Siggy popped open one of the small windows for me and I slipped inside. Although there was sufficient moonlight breaking the stained glass inside the spire, the darkness of the cathedral was almost absolute. Worried for my safety, I clung to the support joist and rode it like a fireman's pole, only it was fatter than a pole and had corners that dug splinters into my skin. Siggy tried to help remove them, but he just ended up lubing my forearms and pushing the splinters further in, so I thanked him and called Reggie out to literally shed some light on the situation.<p>

The temple looked like it always did, although the shadows cast by Reggie's flaming hair were even creepier when I considered how easily something or someone could hide in the space between the pews. I stopped when I thought I saw something duck under a pew. Reggie pounced, but nothing was there save the hymnal and Roremani's self-published ancient religious text. I didn't wait for Reggie before heading down the main aisle like I should have. A stanchion jumped out and clocked me right on the leg before falling over and clanging loudly on the carpeted floors. Carpets weren't thick enough to absorb the sound from the marble foundation, apparently. After swearing at the inanimate object about how many of its children I would murder, I held my throbbing leg in silence and waited to see how many people heard that. After five minutes of nothing happening, I stood up.

With Reggie in front and Siggy bringing up the rear, we made it to the altar without further incident or causing any alternative alarms. The glass box shielding Indusylph's pokéball was right where it always was. So odd to me how easy it was to break in. All I had to do was finagle the lock and get the box open. A legendary pokémon was not only being worshipped out in the open, but its nightly security was abysmal.

Of course mine was the best strategy. If Team Omega was after this pokémon, then I had to protect it from them. I couldn't stay in Wolfram Village forever, attending daily services and waiting inside the Jinn Temple. I had to take action. Brooke knew the truth even before I did: A legendary pokémon was safer with me than it was locked away inside its forgotten temple. Especially when that temple was frequented every day by hundreds of people.

Indusylph was out of reach, so I called on my secret weapon to help me reach it. She snorted in defiance at my request, but Elly obediently turned around and squatted beneath the raised dais. Her backside formed something of a staircase for me to climb, and I didn't have to worry about my weight squashing her like it would Reggie or Siggy. Elly was easily taller than I needed her to be to reach the lock.

The locking mechanism on the box wasn't at all what I expected. I had brought some thin, pointed implements with expectations of reaching inside and pushing a locking bar out of place. But this was a puzzle lock about the size of my hand. Although miniature, it was nearly identical to the other puzzle doors I had seen within the other legendary temples. The difference was not only in the size but in the sheer number of holes available in the pegboard lock. I counted more than four hundred holes, plus I had more than one hundred pegs available. By my precise calculations, the number of possible solutions was longer than my natural life if I started counting right away. It also seemed to me that, unlike the earlier locks I encountered, which were clearly amorphous without the pegs in place, this one had a distinctly round shape.

Luckily for me, I had some experience with these locks. That prior knowledge gave me a starting point. All I had to do was look up. The design within the stained-glass windows was the key. Without the pegboard for guidance, it looked like a ten-pointed star surrounding an eight-pointed star. I tried to replicate the image within the lock's concentric circles, using the handle in the center as the focal point.

It was an unusual design. Of the eight holes possible inside the innermost circle, I only used two: the very top and the very bottom. The second layer offered another sixteen holes. I placed a peg in every alternating hole, lining up the top and bottom pegs with the first circle I completed. Each successive layer had more holes available. I filled in every hole that perfectly aligned with the innermost circle, forming a straight line bisecting the circles. The next two circles accepted pegs in almost every slot, but the two outer circles had only a few to give the appearance of the star's shine, and the outermost circle was empty—a ruse, most likely, to present the puzzle as exceptionally more challenging than it already was. I ended up using only seventy-four pegs and left the others outside the pegboard.

My design wasn't perfect at first. The lock didn't open right away. In all honesty, I had little reason to think it, but I was certain that star was the right answer. I whipped my head back and forth between the pictures and the board in an effort to figure out where I messed up. I shifted a few pegs here and there until I heard a noticeable _click!_

"I did it," I uttered. The side of the box slid open as the invisible security mechanism loosened its grip. Now there was literally nothing to stop me from grabbing the pokéball inside. The moment felt surreal. This was the first time I went for one of these pokéballs while absolutely aware of the implications. I was going to take the power of a legendary pokémon into my hand.

The moment of contact felt anticlimactic. Nothing happened. No Omegas burst into the room to flank me, no divine light shone down from the heavens to worship me as the Chosen One. Just me standing on the back of a wyrmnir with a pokéball in my hand. But there was something wrong. It felt light. Too light. On a whim, I pressed the switch in the center and unlocked the pokéball. The mechanism slid out of place and the ball popped open.

It was empty.

* * *

><p><em>Apologies begin for the late post. I had a wedding to attend this weekend, which involved a round-trip drive one state over. I got home on Sunday and almost immediately got sick. It's difficult to focus on writingediting when you keep praying to the porcelain god. Great weekend and an awful weekend simultaneously._

_Thanks go to **Riverlightillusion** for proofreading for me again. Even if I don't leave too many typos behind, hearing a few initial thoughts is helpful for ensuring I get the tone I wanted. And as is common for the past several chapters, thanks to **Psychotic Ralts** for contributing Nova to the story. In the next chapter, we'll find out what happened to Indusylph. Any preliminary guesses are welcome and exciting to me._

_**Trivia:** In case you haven't noticed it yet, **Indusylph** = **industry** + **sylph**, industry being "energetic devotion to a task or an endeavor." A sylph is one of four elemental beings alongside undine, salamander, and gnome. It is also the name given to the violet-tailed sylph, a gorgeous hummingbird I used as a model for Indusylph's physical appearance._


	52. Thief

Thief

It was empty. All that effort to break into the Jinn Temple and steal the pokéball bearing the legendary Indusylph was for naught. The display upon the altar was phony. Of course it was. The pokéball of a legendary pokémon was out in the open where anyone could see it. And that locked box? Even if it was impervious to every conceivable pokémon attack, someone had to put the contents inside in the first place. How arrogant was I to think mine was the only mind brilliant enough to open that lock?!

Feeling beaten, I dropped to my butt and sat there on the back of my enormous dragon pokémon. "I'm sorry, Elly. It looks like I dropped the ball on this one." Before she could take advantage of my fleeting dysphoria to wrest alpha status from me, I climbed down from her back and returned her to the pokéball.

Questions abounded. Did Roremani know the pokéball was empty or did he believe he was worshipping a true deity? Was he the one in possession of the real Indusylph? Could he be part of Team Omega? What if the whole village was in on the conspiracy and just faked their faith in Roremani's preaching? For all I knew, Indusylph could be a million miles away or it could be right next door. It was even possible this legendary bird creator broke himself free of the pokéball seal the same way Gnomoder did.

There was just not enough information in place for me. All I knew for sure was that the pokéball was empty. Siggy reported no intrusions into the temple over the past few days. That meant the theft definitely happened before I got to the village. I wasn't sure exactly how long Team Omega had been established in the region, but this was one pokéball that wasn't hidden from their sight. It may even have been the first item on their agenda.

Only one person could help me figure out my next step. I hopped into Siggy's hammock, out of sight by anyone who didn't know what to look for. The scene was as well set as it possibly could be. I left ajar the door to the box on the dais. The pokéball was just inside, also wide open. My intention was to boast right off the bat that the vault had been opened and Indusylph was gone. Once someone saw and reported it, I would determine my next move. Not much of a plan to be sure, but I was always better at winging it, anyhow.

About an hour before dawn, I was roused from my slumber, filled with dreams of being whisked away by every errant gust of wind because I failed my studies on the law gravity. Chamber doors opened and shut with the boom of thunder. The hypnopompic daze that blocked my focus soon faded with the outcry of a prosperous pontiff who perceived his prized possession had been pilfered. What he did next was important.

Roremani, fully adorned in his gaudy habit and miter, sighed heavily at the sight of his treasure defiled. His gaze drifted around the cavernous cathedral, searching for some sign of explanation—perhaps an open window to signify an entry point or a toppled pew in case the thief attempted a sloppy getaway. His eyesight was less than perfect for even though my hammock was set up behind the pillar with the psalms wrapped around its base, Roremani still didn't even see me peering out at him. When he was satisfied that the crook was long gone, he sighed, turned around, and retrieved a stepstool from the pulpit. Climbing carefully, he reached just high enough to close Indusylph's green-and-violet pokéball, adjust its placement within the box, and then shut the door. For good measure, he popped out all the pegs to ensure the puzzle maintained its "unsolvable" exterior.

"Hold it right there!" I shouted. My outburst startled him to the point he stumbled off the stepstool. Luckily the stool fell aside and he landed on his feet mostly unharmed. He looked like a fawn in the headlights.

"Don't you move," I reminded him. I grabbed the hammock rope, pushed it down toward the floor, and kicked up my legs. And then the hammock swallowed me whole. Whenever I raised my leg to escape the rapes that ensnared me the hammock would swing a full 360 degrees just to disorient me and make me nauseated. It took me several minutes to get clear of the hammock's opening, all the while repeating myself with "Hang ons" and "Give me a minutes" until I finally managed to find the floor and free myself from eternal entrapment.

"Gus?" said Roremani. He recognized me even in the darkness of the pre-dawn cathedral. "What's going on?"

"That's exactly what I'd like to know," I said. I stomped decisively down the aisle toward the dais and thrust my arm forcefully like a finger-tipped spear at the empty pokéball. "I came here to keep Indusylph safe from those who would steal it and use its power to do harm to others only to find out the pokéball inside your altar is already empty! Care to explain that?"

He frowned at me. "You broke into the temple with intent to steal our legendary object of worship?"

"Of course it sounds bad when you say it like that. Don't change the subject! Why is that pokéball empty? You know it's true. You saw it sitting there and you didn't react with exasperation. You instead looked tired. This isn't the first time someone broke into that box, is it?"

Roremani glowered at me sternly—that look adults give when they try to pin all the world's evils on the shoulders of whatever unfortunate teen happens to be nearby. But my response was equally fierce. Not only was I certain beyond a doubt now that Roremani already knew Indusylph's status, I also already knew that I didn't actually steal it. Mind games weren't going to work on me. My resolve won out. Roremani's visage softened.

"It is not," he confessed. His voice was sullen as admitting it depressed him.

I reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "I hear confession is good for the soul. Speak to me, son."

He accepted my request. "I spent my life turning an honest profit and striving to work for my goals. My faith was rewarded when I discovered the legendary Jinn Temple hidden within the very tree upon which we now stand. Its power was intense and, even through the seal of the pokéball, filled me with an almighty fear. Cowering from that power, I locked the pokéball back inside the temple. It took me years to realize that what I felt was not the wrath of a destructive god but the unending motivation of a constructive god—a creator who rewards those whose lives are driven by purpose. I retrieved the pokéball once more and reveled in the knowledge that I had been chosen to spread the word of Indusylph."

"You get credit for spinning a coherent yarn out of bologna," I said. "Skip to the part where someone stole your legendary source of income."

"It was eight years ago," he replied.

"Eight?! That means I didn't have a chance of protecting anything here."

The prior nodded knowingly. "I wished I could inform you that standing guard here was not the best use of your time."

I sighed. "You kind of did when you told me I shouldn't bother."

"Yet the goal was noble and diligent. Should the altar have been true home to a legendary pokémon, it could not be safer than with your watchful eye on it. If only that thief had not come to the village. I failed my temple and the people of this village on that night. There was every opportunity for me to stop it from happening if only I had appreciated the gravity of the clues and pieced together their true meaning."

"What kind of clues?" I asked.

He exaggerated his gesticulation as he offered minor responses laced with subtle hints of non-answers. "One time I noticed the pegs on the display lock were not where I remembered seeing them. Another time a noise from the pulpit awoke me only come to find no one was inside. I thought I saw a ghost on few occasions. At the time I thought little of such trivia. In hindsight it is easy to determine a thief was breaking in each night, getting closer day-by-day to breaking into the vault."

"Oh, I get it now," I said. He shot me a look that mixed puzzlement with annoyance. "Ghosts were robbing you."

"It was not truly a ghost. Nor was it a figment of my imagination. On the fateful day that Indusylph's presence departed from this temple, I chanced the opportunity to witness the theft before my eyes. It was a man dressed head-to-toe in black to blend with the night. His eyes were unforgettable—striking in hue and burning with a fire unmatched even by the skin of Salamorder. He must have been surprised to see me because he fumbled the pokéball, cracking the seal and unleashing Indusylph's splendor into the temple. Indusylph could sense the man's dishonest means and pitched battle with him. The thief was no slouch, fighting valiantly even as his kangaskhan and his ludicolo perished from the exertion. Through underhanded tactics, he captured the upper hand and suppressed Indusylph's grandeur. He absconded with the legendary guardian in a new pokéball and fled into the night."

I paused, parsing through the information. "I have a lot of questions about that story," I said.

"Go ahead."

"Did they battle inside the narthex over there? Is that why it's under construction?"

Roremani made a face. Shaking his head slowly, he said, "No. That is a recent renovation. The battle occurred eight years ago."

"Yeah, I thought that was a long time to rebuild."

He nodded his agreement. "When the temple was first founded, it was at ground level, near the trunks of these mighty trees. That battle, as you've intimated, razed much of the temple. I relocated to the top of this tree in order to join the rest of the village, which had taken skyward in order to see and appreciate the sun's light once more."

"Makes sense, I guess. In all that fighting that demolished the building, you never got a chance to see the guy's face?" I asked.

"No. His face was obscured by a mask that covered everything from the bridge of the nose and below the eyes. His headgear also covered his hair, if he had any." Roremani pursed his lips and shifted them to one side of his face and back. "There are no more details about the man I can remember."

"What about his pokémon?" I asked. "You clearly remember that he had a kangaskhan and a ludicolo that fell in battle against Indusylph. Do you remember anything more about his team?"

"Only that their teamwork was incredible," he said. "Not a single one could stand against the power of Indusylph alone, but a six-against-one battle ultimately ended in favor of the thief."

"Six-against-one?" I repeated. "That's an insane level of synchronicity with your pokémon. I still struggle battling more than two at a time. There certainly can't be many trainers in the world capable of commanding a full team simultaneously. Have you checked into any trainers who fit that description?"

"In eight years, I have not found the man," said the melancholy monsignor.

"Did you ask the Elite Four for help?"

"I could not bear to bring in the authorities," he confessed. "Those who come to me and this temple for guidance would know their faith shaken and might suddenly find themselves lost—sheep without a shepherd. The message of industry is strong even without a guardian deity to personify it. I made the decision to lead a life of misdirection in order to maintain the livelihoods of the people in this village."

"And in return, they worship an empty trinket," I said dryly.

The scowl returned to his face. "I do not find joy in misleading the people of the village. Every day I am aware their faith in me is misplaced. My only consolation is my moral assurance that I am doing the right thing by guiding them toward utility in a world that would just as soon lose them to sloth."

"And the buckets full of money." He glowered at me and I put up my hands in surrender. "I apologize. It really isn't my concern how you dupe the people of this village. You're right that things could be worse. If you were taking all their money without giving them peace of mind, that would be one thing. In a way, you do offer some sort of community service. I won't try to interfere with that. I just need to find out where Indusylph really went." I peered at the opulent officiant through narrowed eyes.

"Scrutiny aimed toward me will offer little aid," he said. "Indusylph is not in my custody."

"I know," I said. "I already snuck into the chapel and searched your belongings." That was a joke to relieve the tension based on completely… or mostly… made-up events.

At that precise moment, I chanced a glance in the direction of the main cathedral entrance. It was a split-second sight, but I would swear I saw a red cloth waving behind as someone darted outside of the temple. The distance between the dais and the door was half a football field, so it was possible I witnessed a religious mirage or something. But something about that image resonated in my memory. The mask that shrouded the one who stole Indusylph could have been a scarf wrapped around his face. I knew of a man who dressed like that. He already possessed one other legendary pokémon, too.

I bolted down the aisle and left Roremani in the dust wondering what I saw. The doors bent and bounced back into place as they resisted me. Each had two of those deadbolts that stick into the floor and into the upper door frame in order to lock the heavy doors in place. I rapidly displaced them and swung the doors wide open. The only people on the wooden walkways were the early risers from the village. No one wearing a scarf. I felt certain he was nearby, though. I even turned my gaze up toward the roof, like he was a ninja who managed to leap the distance toward the roof in the amount of time it took me to get outside. Only vaguely did the thought occur to me that he would be stupid to return to the scene of the crime eight years later—and coincidentally when I happened to be around.

"Seriously, calm down," I told myself. No point making a scene.

Too late for that. My behavior had drawn the attention of a man wearing a button-up khaki t-shirt matching his khaki shorts. Even his straw hat looked almost the same color. His arm was protected by a leather bracer, and he had a large glove wrapped in place around his belt. I knew him right away. Not a whole lot of people ran around town wearing an aviary arm guard, and only one of them ever donned one before dawn.

"Why are you here, Byrd?" I asked the anxious gym leader.

"I often come to the temple for a prayer before the day begins," he said. His eyes darted between me and the open temple doors. He even caught sight of Roremani, who still appeared to be flummoxed by my sudden decision to flee. "Why were you running so fast from the Prior? And before officiating hours begin." Byrd's eyes narrowed in direct correlation to the suspicion in his voice. "What's going on?"

There was a part of me that wanted to admit Indusylph wasn't truly inside the pokéball. As the village's gym leader, he deserved the right to know that. Of course, I had promised Roremani that I wouldn't tell anyone. From what I knew of him, Byrd would take it particularly hard if he found out his religious beliefs were predicated on any type of lie.

"The Luxurious Lecturer and I were playing Hide-n-Seek. It's my turn to hide while he has to count to fifty. That's not a lot of time to get all the way down the aisle unless I run. Do you think he heard me open the doors?"

Rightfully, Byrd didn't believe me. He stepped around me and entered into the cathedral, removing his hat. "Prior Roremani," he called down the ingress. He offered a little bow and tucked his hat by his belly. "Apologies for the interruption so early. Why is this trainer present even before the doors are open to the public?"

Roremani waved off the question. "He believes the divine Indusylph will be targeted by thieves."

"I see," said Byrd. There was something ominous in his voice. He held still with his back to me for a moment as he reached for his belt. If gym leaders weren't notorious for being calm, cool, collected, and generally more capable of piecing together rational trains of thought than the average trainer, I would have been nervous. Luckily there was no call for that.

Suddenly Byrd whipped around and hurled a pokéball in my direction the same way a pitcher throws a surprise fast ball.

_Get nervous!_ I told myself.

The instant the pokéball opened, a full-grown pidgeot shot through the air like an arrow aimed for my chest. I fell over backward in the aisle as I stumbled away. The razor-sharp talons raked my shirt and left a sizable hole.

I wanted to sound indignant to set aside how terrified I was. "What gives?"

"What did you steal?" Byrd demanded of me.

"I didn't steal anything," I said.

"Liar! You defiled the Jinn Temple and I would see order returned!" His pidgeot wheeled around in the air and came in for a second strike. I tried to dive out of the way behind a pew, but the pidgeot's keen eyes were able to follow my slow and clumsy movements. This time the talons perched onto the back of the pew as the pidgeot glowered at me.

"Attacking me isn't cool!" I shouted. The pidgeot responded by releasing a deafening squawk in my face. My hands fled to protect my ears. When the shriek ended, I was angry. "Fine. You asked for it." I wriggled my hand into my satchel and opened a pokéball of my own. In a flash, Reggie appeared on the pew. Using all the bulk of his feline body to his advantage, he lunged at the perched pidgeot and tackled it to the floor. He outweighed the bird by more than two hundred pounds. I felt safe enough to stand out and get out from between the pews.

"Don't let up. Bite!"

Reggie opened wide his jowls and snapped forward with the speed of an arbok to plunge his ferocious fangs into… nothing. Byrd returned his pidgeot to its pokéball at that exact moment and fluidly tossed a salialiary instead.

"Whirlwind," Byrd commanded, and the large blue bird flapped its mighty wings. A gale-force wind kicked up beneath Reggie and me. My feet swept out from under me and carried me outside through the open temple doors. My satchel floated up beside me and spit out one of my other pokéballs. It hovered in the air beside me. For an instant, it felt as if I were in a zero-gravity situation. Reggie was, too, only he moved faster. His body received the bulk of the Whirlwind, and so he flew straight into me, chancing a connection with his own pokéball. In a flash, he disappeared. At the same time, the pokéball that flew from my satchel hit the ground and Conch popped out, happy as a cloyster to get some fresh air on that fishy head of his.

"Conch? I didn't call you."

The sialiary didn't care if I did or not. It also soared through the temple doors and into the open air, diving straight at Conch as if it were catching a fish for lunch. Again, its talons were crazy sharp and even managed to pierce Conch's scales to open a wound on his head.

"Use Crush Claw again," commanded Byrd. The sialiary wheeled around acrobatically for another strike.

I waited until the bird was only a few feet away. "Fish Kick!" I shouted. In a move so quick it would make Van Damme jealous, Conch squatted with his tiny but muscular legs and performed a back flip, kicking up a stream of water along the motion. The attack caught the sialiary under the beak and disoriented it. It missed high on its attack and disappeared in a stream of electromagnetic energy. Byrd had recalled a second pokémon. Did that mean I was winning this little skirmish?

My guess became "no." Pidgeot claimed the battlefield once again. A new wind kicked up, but this one didn't come directly from the pidgeot. It seemed more like a shift in the atmosphere that put a tailwind behind our opponents while Conch was facing into it.

"Keep your distance," Byrd warned his pokémon. "Use Air Slash." Whipping its wings as if they were samurai swords, the pidgeot focused the air until it felt as sharp as a knife. Conch wasn't fast enough to avoid it and suffered another laceration on his torso.

"Counterattack with Water Pulse!" I cried. Conch spewed a ring of water that reverberated in the air, but the crosswind depleted some of its force and the pidgeot appeared to be largely unharmed.

It was time to take a page from Byrd's playbook. Conch clearly wasn't the best suited for a battle with birds. Actually only Elly was especially suited for it, but I couldn't risk her body weight on these wooden walkways. Besides, I didn't want anything funny happening between her and those birds, if any of them were male.

"Go, Reggie!" As soon as my immolion reappeared, I told him, "Get after that pidgeot with a Flamethrower!" The stream of fire spewing from Reggie's belly came hard and fast, billowing so thick it could cut through steel like butter. Even with the Tailwind and its aerial acrobatics, the pidgeot couldn't completely avoid a flame that big. It dove to avoid the brunt of the attack. At first the idea of diving toward an enemy seemed ridiculous; a flying-type loses its advantage closer to the ground. But in reality, it was smart. If the pidgeot had flown upward instead, it would suffer from the fire attack for longer because hot air rises. Diving ensured it sustained minimal damage.

It also brought a bird within Reggie's striking distance. He leaped through the air perfectly on-target to grab the pidgeot and drag it down to the ground. But once again, Byrd returned his pokémon before the attack hit. If nothing else, the man had flawless timing with his substitutions.

"Come on out," he said as a swoobat appeared from his next pokéball. Although this pokémon was not a smooth flyer, it had the advantage over Reggie's sensitive hearing. Thanks to the ability for felines to hear even higher ranges than a canine pokémon can, Reggie began to suffer right off the bat… pun intended. Swoobat emitted a series of ultra-high-pitched sounds when in battle. I couldn't hear a thing, but the intensity of the sound left Reggie staggering. It was a perfect opportunity for the swoobat to hit him with a Thunder Wave. The electricity entered his body and instantly tightened every muscle. As a result, he could hardly move. There would be no more sniping birds out of the air.

"Come back," I said to him as I returned him to his pokéball. This battle was getting fun. I was the first one to end up with a pokémon incapacitated, but there's no way anyone could objectively view Byrd as dominating the battle. He may have the lead, but he struggled for it, and my pokémon wouldn't let it be easy.

"It's your turn, Clara!" In a flash, my flying spiritymph appeared in the air before me. "It's time both sides take to the sky. Start with Double Team!" Channeling energy within herself, the air around Clara began to blur. The move drained her a bit and she dipped in the air. Her motion brought the image of three Claras following the same trajectory but at slightly different speeds.

"Don't fall for their misdirection," Byrd warned his swoobat. "Relax with Calm Mind and then use Future Sight." In the grand scheme of things, I was still a new pokémon trainer. But even my inexperience was enough to feel how much stronger swoobat's aura became as it rested itself. Any coming attack was going to be more devastating than originally intended. Byrd wasn't pulling his punches against me like most gym leaders did. Forget scaling the battle to match my level of training. He was coming down on me like I was the regional champion looking for a challenger.

"Flash!" I shouted. Clara's tiny body exploded with the light of the sun. Only for an instant, her body became bright enough to melt the retinas of anyone staring directly at her or looking in her general direction. And even if "melting the retinas" is an exaggeration, that level of radiance would at least create an afterimage that would follow the eyeballs wherever they went for a good two minutes. Clara made herself difficult to hit.

"What use was that?" Byrd mocked. "Each of my pokémon responds to vibrations in the air. Not one of them relies on sight alone to catch their prey." As if his threat were a command, the swoobat swooped in Clara's direction, barely missing her head with its dual-pronged tail.

"Get high!" I shouted to my spiritymph. "That swoobat will have trouble swooping if it can't get above you." Clara beat her wings rapidly and ascended like a hummingbird.

Byrd sneered at me. "Think again." Suddenly Clara was struck by a psychic blast that seemed to come out of nowhere. I had forgotten that swoobat used Future Sight, and now his attack devastated Clara.

She was in the red now. Her body was hardly big enough to withstand much damage. One attack was enough to knock her out of the sky. The swoobat wasn't as aerially talented as she was, but now it didn't have to be. It just flapped its wings enough to hover in place while Clara descended ever closer.

"Baton Pass!"

There was one observable disadvantage with bird pokémon: Almost every conceivable opponent outweighed them. Any opponent that was heavier would hit harder, and a bird's small body and hollow bones could not withstand a flurry of strikes from some of their larger opponents. Byrd was well aware of this weakness, and he skirted the detriment by executing immaculate timing for returns and position changes. In a straight fight, my pokémon would win hands-down, but by Byrd's using this strategy of avoidance, my pokémon weren't able to knock out a single fighter so far.

Until now. The swoobat waited patiently for Clara to fall within reach, but at a moment inopportune for evasion, my spiritymph disappeared—replaced by a foaming pile of muscle.

"Foamy Punch!" I shouted. Siggy thrust his thick arm forward and became a bubbly missile in the air, landing squarely on-target against the swoobat's heart-shaped nose. The force from such a blow blasted the swoobat toward the ground even faster until it collided with the wooden gangplank. Byrd returned it an instant before Siggy landed with a ground pound. It looked totally awesome and his squishy body even absorbed most of the impact so he didn't break the floor.

"Enough of this, you thief," said Byrd. He tossed out a pokéball and released his pidgeot once more. "Hurricane."

As big as a pidgeot is for a bird, that creature could really fly. It only need a short distance to swoop at Siggy fast enough to leave behind a short sonic boom. It encircled Siggy so many times and so swiftly that a cyclone of wind formed around my golfoam. His squat body rose into the air almost as high as he had been when Clara summoned him, spinning around and around and around and around… Poor guy was getting dizzy up there. I pitied him and considered swapping him out. But he wouldn't want that—not when he was poised to take the upper hand again.

"Hit him with a Sky Drop," Byrd commanded. He glared at me the whole time he spoke, like all of a sudden I would find his rhetoric ominous and threatening.

"I'll do you one better," I said, shooting him a goofy grin and a wink. "Siggy! Use Mirror Move!" Mirror Move, you say? But Siggy couldn't possibly fly. His body type simply doesn't meet the physical requirements. While that is true, there was something else his body was more than capable of.

Pidgeot stopped Siggy in mid-twirl by latching those powerful talons around his shoulders. With a slight shift of the wings, they began to climb skyward. During their ascent, Siggy swung his arms around, resuming the vision of a whirling foam blob. The pidgeot came with him, spinning in its trajectory and losing focus. Vicious winds kicked up and lashed at the mighty bird's wings and torso, dealing major damage and opening several visible wounds along the pokémon's body. Even though Siggy was incapable of flying, he still had the aura power to mimic any type of special technique he witnessed from an opponent. That same kind of energy that allowed Team Omega to use pokémon abilities was how a normal-type like Siggy used any power typically deemed beyond his capacity.

More important: When the pidgeot suffered the hurricane winds in mid-flight, the damage was even worse than it would have been if it had been better protected close to the ground. Up there, nothing else could get in the way of the attack. By the time Siggy went into freefall, I knew the pidgeot had fainted. That was two of Byrd's pokémon we took out. A little teamwork on our side was the key to matching the other side's flock!

I didn't want to risk Siggy flattening out like an accordion, and so I returned him in the air to his pokéball. Before choosing his replacement, I paused. "Ready to yield?" It only seemed right to offer Byrd the chance to avoid a battle.

He scowled at me. "Only when you and your pokémon prostrate yourselves before this temple and repent for thieving."

That took me a minute to understand. "I get that you think I stole something, even though you aren't sure what. And I get that I didn't actually steal anything, even though I considered it. But what's wrong with my prostrate?"

My question stumped Byrd, too. Now he was as puzzled as I was.

"I don't know exactly what happens to it sometimes. The Elder had a problem with his prostrate. He had to take these big pills and drink lots of water."

The bewildered look faded from Byrd's face. "I didn't say 'prostate,' you idiot. I just meant you should lie down in surrender to the Jinn Temple's judgment." He popped a pokéball and summoned a red-tailed talonflame. Another of his birds brought a pair of fresh wings to the fight.

Speaking of the temple's judgment, I couldn't help noticing that Roremani was still glued to his spot on the temple's altar. Why didn't he come out here and clear up the confusion? A simple word from him would surely be enough to settle Byrd's nerves. Wasn't it some violation of the Indusylph tenets to laze about when you could, instead, step in and help your fellow man and pokémon?

Whatever. At first it was fun battling against Byrd and all of his pokémon, but as soon as I noticed that Roremani was keeping his distance, I got sick of patient battling. If Byrd wanted to be a jerk about it, I'd go all out on the assault. The choice was obvious. Elly was practically invincible against flying-types. Only one issue existed, and at this point, I was willing to risk it.

Wyrmnirs were always big, but this suspended rope bridge that granted access from the village proper to the Jinn Temple affected my perspective. The walkway was pretty large—large enough for a small crowd of people to travel safely. As the electromagnetic energy took shape, Elly seemed to grow larger than ever. In reality, she may have been the same size. My desire to see her not break the bridge made my eyes see her as bigger than usual. Byrd may have foreseen the same consequence of summoning her. Even he suddenly appeared nervous about continuing the battle.

"Afraid your little phoenix there can't take down a dragon?" I teased.

He spat. "All I would have to do is burn the bridge. In a single move, the fight would end. But the village would suffer for it."

I grinned at him. "So you're giving me the upper hand."

For a moment, we squared off without making a move. Elly made slight adjustments, trying not to shake the floor underfoot too much. The talonflame alighted atop one of the bridge posts and held its perch. Fierce eyes pierced menacingly through me. The presence of a wyrmnir didn't scare that flaming bird in the least. It was going to be a shoot-out here. Whoever drew first would decide the fate of this battle, and likely of this bridge.

Out of nowhere, a large, blue cloud descended upon Elly. No, not a cloud: It was an altaria. It started by hovering around Elly's face to catch her attention. The two sniffed around one another for a minute, much to my confusion. Byrd also appeared uncertain about this development. Suddenly a slew of other pokémon came out of the woodwork. Yanmas, grovyles, heracrosses, pidgeottos, and even a sudowoodo came out to begin sniffing around her. A series of cries and screeches exchanged between the group as they competed over Elly's affection. One or two little boy pokémon fighting over her would be cute. I would tease her about it and offer to accept bribes for her. But having an entire platoon there just made it creepy. A half dozen trainers came running in our direction worried about why their pokémon ran off like that.

As soon as Elly leaned forward and stuck her tail high in the air, I decided to recall her. "No one needs to see that in public," I said to her pokéball.

Roremani finally found us at the door to the temple. He touched Byrd gently on the forearm. "Come, Byrd. It is time for the matin."

He showed displeasure at it, but Byrd withdrew his talonflame and followed the garish clothes of the clergyman into the temple. He made a point to scowl at me while he closed shut the temple doors.

I held my arms wide, flabbergasted. "How is this going to affect my gym challenge today?" My guess was it probably didn't help.

* * *

><p><em>I'm late on this chapter. My only lame consolation is knowledge that I've fallen behind on a lot of things recently. Too much going on at this time of year. (Those of you who just finished final exams will understand.) I have a big project that I need done by the end of June. It's possible there will be a short hiatus after the next chapter so that I can finish that project. The upside is finishing that project will take one thing off my plate and give me more time to devote to this.<em>

_Next time, we'll wrap up this little Indusylph "arc" and prepare Gus to move on to the next town. As always, thank you all for reading. Leave a review or shoot me a message to let me know what you think! You have no idea how encouraging even a small comment is to me!_

_**Trivia:** The doctrine of Indusylph was influenced by Zenithar from _The Elder Scrolls_ series. They both represent diligence and hard work and (allegedly) reward those who follow such a path. So far, this one was my favorite legendary pokémon because it was the first one that had an effect on the people in the village. I only have four more major locations on the map, two unintroduced legendaries (plus one we only glimpsed), and three more gyms._

_**Trivia Question:** Anyone keeping count on how many badges Gus has?_


	53. Confide

Confide

As soon as my battle with Byrd came to its abrupt and sexy ending, I wasn't sure what to do next. I felt like I was trapped in limbo while Byrd went back inside the Jinn Temple for the morning service. Doubtful he wanted me to follow him. Even if I were devout, my presence would likely do nothing more than draw additional ire. He seemed so angry about some perceived slight against his religious faith and the temple that housed it. Did that mean he wouldn't give me my official gym challenge later? Was I going to miss out on a Tungsten Badge just because Roremani insisted on swindling people into worshipping an empty pokéball?

Maybe someone as obsessive as Byrd would still accept my challenge since it was already on the schedule. He just might be compulsive enough to follow it without deviation.

The only certainty to me was that my pokémon needed healing. I stopped by the pokémon center. Mindy wasn't on duty, so there was no awkwardness as I handed the station nurse my pokéballs. Each one carried that familiar hum for the first few moments following the harmonizer's use. That's how I knew for sure their energy waves were balanced and coordinated. Now that they were healthy, I was back to being feeling pensive.

In times like this, when my forward path was unclear to me, the Elder always told me to look to my heart and I'll find the answers. I closed my eyes and tried to listen to what my blood pumper had to say.

"I'm just as lost and confused as the brain," it told me. Unfortunately my heart wasn't as all-knowing as I had hoped. "Everything is working order. Maybe check with the lungs?"

So I did. "Everything's good here, Boss," they told me. "Got a bit of drag on the left side. Might be something wrong with a peripheral. Nothing we can't handle, but it could grow into a bigger problem."

Talking to my organs was failing me as a decision-making method. My stomach raised its hand at that point, if you can follow that imagery. "You know how you decided to hang out in the temple all night because of that missing pokémon? Well, our power supply is running low now and I got no more fuel cells. Maybe we could add breakfast to the itinerary."

And so it went that when my heart doesn't have the answers for me, I look to my stomach. At special request, I stopped by the Big Treehouse Café, which is short for "cafeteria." The floorplan was just a big, open room with benched seating and a buffet line with more than eight styles of pancake. Usually the restaurant was full to capacity with people who enjoyed eating their fill for a low cost. Obtaining a seat without exceeding the maximum capacity declared by the fire marshal involved one of three basic strategies: (a) be patient while other patrons finish, (b) get lucky to arrive at the exact moment someone else finishes, or (c) arrive early before breakfast technically starts. I was early—so early they hadn't set out any food yet. So I waited patiently. Luckily I was also first in line for the bacon tray, so I managed the trifecta.

Feeling sufficiently sated and slaked, I check the time. The morning prayer service had ended. Byrd's strict routine always carried him to a small coffee shop for breakfast-on-the-go and then straight into the bird gym. I would make for a diligent little avian challenger and meet him over there.

As I approached the interwoven tree branches that held the gym's sign, I caught sight of the computer screen that cycled through names for all of the successful challengers. The pages scrolled through hundreds, possibly thousands, or names—all the hopeful trainers thinking they might someday make a new champion.

"Today my name goes up," I said to the machine.

Nette L. stood outside the gym entrance, dressed in a simple skirt-and-blouse combo that presented her as stylish and unattainable at the same time. She spoke with one of Byrd's gym assistants over a paper-filled binder. It was so nice of her to wait out there for me like a good BFF. I didn't see any pom-poms in her possession, but she still looked ready to cheer me on.

"Good morning, Nette!" I said, bright and sunny. "My challenge isn't scheduled here for another two hours, but I appreciate your showing up to root for me."

"Morning," she mumbled in curt reply. At first she barely glanced away from the papers, but then she did a double-take when she realized she was potentially snubbing her BFF. "Oh, it's you!" She was anxious to see me.

"That's right," I said. "Early, as always. The Elder used to drive home to my sister and me that 'to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late in unacceptable.' So here I am."

The gym assistant whispered something to Nette and she nodded in reply. "Byrd told us about you. Enthusiastically, in fact."

"Oh, yeah?" It had to be good news if the gym leader was already talking about me, right? "We had a bit of a scuffle this morning. No, not that strong. More of a fray. Or a tiff. All a misunderstanding, really. I'm glad he's over it. I'm sure ready to move on."

Before I could step foot through the gate, Nette placed her hand on my chest and held me back. "That may not be the case."

"What do you mean?"

"Byrd tells the story with a bit more intensity than you do. The patriarch of the Jinn Temple told him that you were caught breaking and entering with thieving intentions. He told Byrd that you repented and need not be punished further, but Byrd is not as forgiving. He requested we inform you of your current status in this gym. To put it bluntly, you are no longer welcome here. Your gym challenge was cancelled."

For a moment, I couldn't speak. I felt so indignant that I literally couldn't shift my word-maker into the correct gear. Labels escaped me as my mind drew a… a… That thing you draw when your mind draws a… When you can't think of anything! That's how I felt.

Nette must have seen it written all over me. "Are you going to be okay?" Her tone sounded more comforting right then than ever before. It helped get my brain going again.

"I guess I saw it coming," I mumbled. "Still a bit of a shock, though." I stamped my foot hard on the walkway. "Man! Our battle was the stuff of epics, too! I was sure I was a shoe-in."

She scoffed. "Byrd said you put up such a pathetic battle that giving you a badge would be a disgrace to the gym."

"Seriously?" I was taken aback. Byrd was definitely a bit of a jerk, but I had no idea someone in his position would resort to lying just to cover up being matched by another trainer. I looked to Nette for support. "What do you think?"

With a sly grin, she glanced at Byrd's assistant—a youngish woman with dark hair wearing jeans and a long-sleeved blouse with a pair of falconer gloves looped around her belt. I had met her once but never had the opportunity to speak with her directly. "I've never seen him speak so ardently about a child trainer before," she said. "None of the usual encouraging rhetoric accompanied his story. See, even trainers who don't earn a badge typically show some positive traits that he likes to nourish so that trainer will grow. But with you, it was all bile. Not a single good word. I've never seen that before."

"We're tempted to believe that dramatic departure from his more common behavior means," said Nette, "that you had a tremendous battle and may even have taken a lead over him. I know you have a wyrmnir in your fleet, which would certainly make for a monumental undertaking for any bird."

"I appreciate that you two are on my side here," I said. "Too bad that doesn't change anything. I'm still trapped outside the Bird Gym without a Tungsten Badge. I need eight of these things even to be considered for the Pokémon League Championship. That pretty much screws me, doesn't it?"

The gym assistant smiled. "Anyone who can battle well enough to make Byrd that upset has my vote. What do you think, Nette?"

"Give him one," she said.

"One what?" I asked. "You're not going to add injury to insult and give me a wedgie, are you?"

Nette groaned. "Reconsider?"

"Nah," said the assistant. Her eyes glazed over with a drop of fleeting nostalgia. "I used to give wedgies to my little brother on a weekly basis. Brings back fond memories of my childhood."

"You are a frightening woman," I said bluntly.

She beamed at me. "I can be. Here ya go." She extended her open palm and presented to me a tiny version of the logo adorning the stained glass at the Jinn Temple. I knew what it was, but she still told me. "The Tungsten Badge is yours." She realized my reluctance to accept it. "You earned it, Gus. We're not basing this opinion exclusively on an amateur psychological profile of Byrd. Heck, it would take years to fully diagnose that guy! Villagers tell stories, too, and word travels fast. Even without your wyrmnir, you found a way to overcome Byrd's quick and sometimes flawless recall of his birds until you finally gained an advantage. If you had thrown a steel dragon from the start, even Byrd would have thrown in the towel just to save his birds the blow to their pride."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I don't want to finish my journey through handouts."

"If it makes you feel better," she continued, "then think of it this way: I'm a member of the Elite Four in Perioble. I outrank Byrd. Your battle ended uncertainly, but I am convinced you could have beaten him. You earned this badge in the eyes of the Elite Four, and it is presented to you by a representative of the Wolfram Bird Gym. Take it."

I swiped the badge with a single, deft motion. "Done. I was just trying to be humble. Nice speech, though. I like the fact that you aren't afraid to throw your weight around. No one else could be my BFF like you are."

The zeal faded from her face. "Charming." She reached into her back pocket and tossed me a small case. "Take that TM, too. It'll teach your flying pokémon to use Sky Attack. It's among the most powerful flying attacks."

"I've seen it," I said. It was when Sigilyph battled against Gnomoder inside the Gnome Temple. For a moment, it became invulnerable to all external stimuli while it barreled through the air toward its target. "The move is undeniably strong."

"It also has its downside," Nette added. "It takes time to build up the kind of energy needed to execute the attack correctly. Your pokémon will be exposed and helpless until the charge is complete. Use it wisely so you don't waste it."

"I will, thanks."

On my way down the gangplank, I ran into Nova. She dressed in a purple v-neck t-shirt showing underneath a white sweater and blue jeans. Her shirt brought out the purple highlights in her hair. They were bright and fresh. I think she refreshed the dye during the previous night.

"Hey, Gus!" she said excitedly. She practically bounced out of her shoes as she walked. That was the image of a girl truly anxious about her gym match. No doubt she arrived early to get in a little extra practice and mental preparation. "I'm surprised you're here so early. You couldn't sleep either, huh?"

I frowned. "I slept okay. Bit of a rough morning, though. I don't want to burden you with it. You have an important gym match coming up. You should focus on that."

"You do, too, right?"

I shook my head. "Nah. I decided I'd had my fill of this place. Especially when Byrd told his assistants that I was no longer welcome here."

"Oh no! What happened? Was it that joke you made about the talking chatot and the stuffed psyduck?"

Admittedly, making an offensive joke to get kicked out of the gym sounded like something that fit my personality. But that wasn't it this time. "I don't think he heard it. We ran into each other outside the Jinn Temple and had a disagreement from which he has no desire to reconcile."

She gave that sympathetic head bob that people usually reserve for when your girlfriend dumps you. "I heard you battled him this morning. Word around the water cooler is you performed really well, too. Some say you were winning the match and he wasn't even pulling any metaphorical punches. I guess he didn't take kindly to losing."

"They say handling defeat is as much a mark of character as winning," I said, unintentionally quoting the Elder again. "For Byrd, it was a lesson sorely lacking in his education."

"What are you going to do now?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Continue the journey as I started it, I guess. I'll keep heading east out of the forest until I get to Aurum City. There's another gym there. Probably some other exciting sights, as well. I hear the whole city is made of solid gold!" I chuckled. "If only, huh?"

"I heard the same story," she said. "We'll both find out if it's true soon enough. How soon do you plan to leave?"

"With everything happening so rapidly, I didn't even consider putting a specific time on it. I guess I might as well take off today. Maybe after lunch?" I looked into her eyes as she watched me. It was tough to discern whether she was distraught by my expulsion from the gym or by my leaving the village ahead of her. "I could wait until tomorrow, I suppose. What are your plans?"

Suddenly Nova withdrew slightly, pressing her foot into the ground sheepishly. "At first I wasn't sure. I will definitely continue my journey soon and travel on to Aurum City. But part of me really wants to stay here and find a way to prove that Roremani and the Jinn Temple are frauds. That conviction is reinvigorated now that I know Byrd's unforgiving piety led to your dismissal from the gym without your promised challenge."

"Don't use me as an excuse," I said. Aloud, anyway. On the inside, I was flattered that she wanted to avenge me socially in the village. "But taking down Indusylph worship is tricky business. If you aren't careful, the best solution you get will be no one listens and you get yourself shunned like I did. The worst outcome is the economy of this whole village collapses when everyone loses their faith."

"I understand the implications of altering society on such a grand scale," she said. "I may be fifteen years old, but my parents were involved in politics regularly when I was a kid. Every day was conversations about how this legislation could raise revenue but people would see it as a bad thing, or how that new construction would be viewed as a waste of money until people were convinced it was actually something they shouldn't be able to live without. I won't just go out and announce that Roremani is a fraud. There will be research and planning."

"Are you sure about this?" I asked. "That sounds like a lot of work."

She nodded while a smile crept across her face. "Yes. I can't stand the idea of these people giving him money for no reason at all. Especially after what happened with his Sinnoh cult."

I paused, unsure what to say for a moment. "I thought you would come with me."

"I wanted to. I'm sorry." She opened her arms while I stepped up and gave her a strong hug. It wasn't like I couldn't get along without her, but having Nova around had been a lot of fun. We would have made a good pair traveling together across Perioble. "Give me a call when you get to Aurum City. You can tell me your new stories and I'll update you on the Jinn cult."

"Okay," I accepted. "Good luck with your gym match. Be sure to knock Byrd out of the sky."

She beamed. "Your injustice will be avenged."

"Not for me!" I objected. "Beat him because Reggie and Clara worked so hard to get good at that stupid flying obstacle course only to be denied the chance to strut their stuff. Reggie even put together a nice little victory dance."

"I'm sorry we'll miss it."

"You don't even know how sorry," I joked. With a final farewell and another sappy hug, Nova wandered inside the Bird Gym while I stared longingly up at the sign.

My purpose in Wolfram Village had come to pass. It took me a few days longer than I planned, but now the Tungsten Badge was in my possession. Adding it to the Copper Badge, the Silver Badge, and the Antimony Badge I already collected, I now held four badges needed for the Pokémon League. Eight gyms dotted the region. Four more badges would prove my mettle had been tested by all of the region's gym leaders. I was halfway to my goal.

On the other hand, Team Omega also claimed four legendary pokémon. At least as many, anyway. All I could say for certain was that Brooke had claimed Gnomoder before they got there. But I couldn't even guarantee that she still had it. For all I knew, Team Omega had found her and acquired her pokémon already. Maybe they even had all eight.

What about Elliott? That conniving little sneak might be smart enough to sneak in and spirit away another Creator Pokémon before the Omegas got there. I still wasn't even sure what Valence planned to do once he collected all eight. The region was still in one piece, so maybe I had some time left to catch up.

And I couldn't deny the possibility that the thief, who captured Indusylph after an unparalleled display of power by commanding six pokémon at once, was not of Team Omega and, in fact, possessed Indusylph for his own purposes elsewhere.

Before I left town, I should really make good use of my resources and see if I could get some help from Nette. We're talking about a trainer of tremendous talent if he could command an entire squad of pokémon. Someone like that had to be famous. A member of the Elite Four might be able to point me in the right direction.

"Can I ask you some advice?"

Nette didn't look at me. "Go for it."

"Have you ever heard of someone capable of commanding six pokémon at once?"

"Six at once?" she repeated. Now her attention was fixed on me. "There have been a handful of trainers rumored to do so. Why do you ask?"

"I heard a story. It sounded cool, like maybe I should give it a try. No chance you're one of those trainers?"

She shook her head. "No. Commanding six pokémon at once takes a superhuman level of focus, or else it takes a lot of trust in your pokémon. Legend says the Hydrogen Emperor was the first man ever capable of that kind of subjugation. As for real life, there's an entire school of thought into behaviorism—that you simply teach your pokémon how to respond to certain situations and let them go during battle. Maybe you throw in a command here and there to help if something comes up you didn't teach them. Some people can utilize such technique to perform impressive feats, but that style has never suited me. It's less useful for battle, but it has a true purpose in show performances."

"Do you know of anyone able to use that strategy in battle?"

Nette pursed her lips, but then she pulled her shoulders back into a shrug. "Not by name. If you want to know more, I recommend seeking an audience with Zamia, the Perioble Pokémon Professor."

"Pokémon Professor?" I repeated. "Is that an actual title or just some kind of alliterative advertisement?"

"Every region has a Pokémon Professor," she insisted, even though I'd never heard this before. "Each of these researchers makes a name by building the scientific literature about some aspect of pokémon. The fabled Professor Oak made his career studying interaction between humans and pokémon. Professor Zamia studies the ways pokémon learn. Part of his study is on the science of behaviorism."

"He sounds like the guy to talk to," I said.

"Why are you so curious?" Nette asked, pushing me a little harder to sate her curiosity. "What story did you hear that sparked this interest?"

"I heard that a guy battled with all six pokémon at once," I answered. The beauty of it was in its simplicity. No room to be called a liar and no room for answering needless questions.

"What guy?"

Maybe one or two needless questions. "I don't know what guy," I said. "That's why I asked you if you knew anybody."

"Who did this guy battle?" she asked. She was getting smarter. This time she skipped a step—where she asks who I heard it from—just to throw me off guard. Sneak Nette, that's what I would call her.

"Wild pokémon," I replied. "At least, that's the way the story was told. It could have been exaggerated. Commanding six pokémon at once seems pretty far-fetched to me. I figured if anyone were actually capable of that, you would know about it, being Elite Four and all. That sounds like the kind of thing you would verify in person."

"We probably would, if the claim were about an unknown trainer," she confessed. All of a sudden, that sharp look in her eye softened. For a second, she actually looked sympathetic, like a compassionate human being.

She stepped away from Byrd's assistant and leaned in toward my ear. "It's no coincidence that you brought that up just now, after being accused of theft at the Jinn Temple. Roremani told you his story, didn't he?"

I stared back into her eyes, trying really hard not to be the first one to blink. She stared back with much less strain to keep her emboldened stare fixed on me. The intensity was difficult to withstand. It didn't take long for her to wear me down and break me into a blink. I must have been facing into the wind or something.

It was time to lay the truth on her. I looked away from her. "I don't think I can trust you." No reason to see how much my BFF would hurt emotionally from this revelation.

"Why not?"

"Because you oversee the Perioble Marshals service." My voice fell. "And I know for a fact that they can't be trusted."

She cleared her throat. "I don't deal with the marshals," she claimed. "That's not my division. My direct reports are the gym leaders. Sure, there have been times when I came into contact with the higher-ranked marshals but never in a professional capacity—always at some sort of social function."

"Really?" I asked.

"Really," she said. Nette's gray eyes appeared a tad brighter than before. "Does this trust issue have anything to do with the six-pokémon-battle story?"

"It's not entirely unrelated," I confessed evasively. My safety hinged on whether or not putting my trust in Nette would pay off. Marshal Ray turned on me as soon as I found out he was crooked. I had expected he would send the rest of the service after me, yet I had to introduce myself to Nette—one of his supervisors—when I first met her. Could he really have lost interest in me since my retreat? Yes or no, Nette was ranked even higher than he was. If she decided to believe I was a lying little delinquent, then I was toast.

Feeling frustrated with my evasiveness, Nette sighed with exasperation. "How well can you keep a secret?"

"I'm like a book of secrets—written in a dead language that has no translation dictionary and wrapped with three golden locks, each of different sizes and including one so small that you probably lost it by the time you picked it up."

She looked over her shoulders and made sure no one approached me from behind. Byrd's assistant was still at the gate combing through that binder. No attention directed our way. It was still early enough that even though people occupied the gangplanks, none strayed away from the gym's gate like we had.

Nette leaned in close so her head took up my whole field of vision. I flinched when her finger sprang up in front of me with a nail the size of a machete. False alarm for me. She proceeded to jam that finger into her own eye. I half expected to hear it pop like a balloon. Instead, a gray film slid off with her finger. Left behind was a striking iris as blue as sapphires. It was as if she had embedded ice crystals into her eyeball.

"Wow," I uttered. "You have heterochromia?"

She made a face. "No, you dunce." She slipped the film back over her eye. "Contact lenses. Two of them. To change my eye color?" She took another look around to be sure no one could overhear us.

"Why?"

She shook her head. "One secret at a time. What's yours?"

Finally, I decided to take a chance. If Nette could trust me with the fact that she was hiding a feature of herself, then I could tell her something about my journey. "Both stories—the six-pokémon battler and the Jinn Temple. Both involve a legendary pokémon stolen from its resting place in a temple." I waited quietly for her response, ready to bolt with all the might in my legs if she made a grab for me.

But she didn't. Her reaction was collected—more curious than upset. "Roremani told me about Indusylph. Do you have any idea who the thief might be?"

"I think so," I said. Burton was the only person who came to mind. He snuck into the Undine Temple to steal Clendine from her guardian pedestal. He dressed like a ninja and almost never spoke. Who could be more suited to thievery than a guy like him? "The problem, though, is I don't know who he is. Just that his name is Burton."

"I'll see if the name returns anything," she said. "What other theft do you know about?"

"One of the marshals stole Tempereye from underground in Stannum Village, and he used Salamorder to do so." How's that for a bombshell? I asked, "Are you sufficiently blown away?"

"You do weave an intriguing yarn," she agreed. "Does this marshal have a name?"

"Ray."

"Ray?" She tapped her chin as she mulled it over quickly. "No, I don't know him. But that gives me somewhere to begin. Do you have any idea what he wants with legendary pokémon?"

"The answer to that," I told her, "lies with the leadership of Team Omega. Have you heard of them?"

"Of course I have," replied Nette. "Few citizens of Perioble are so ignorant that their contributions to society go unnoticed. But that doesn't necessarily preclude the prospect of a seedy underbelly. I don't know that Team Omega would make the effort to acquire the fabled guardians of the ecosystem, but it does intrigue me. I can't ignore the risk. This warrants an investigation, even into the Marshals service if necessary."

I was taken aback by how the conversation unfolded. "Then you believe me?"

"Don't push your luck." She was back to playing the obstinate ally. That's my BFF!

Byrd's assistant called to Nette. "I've got to get back to our discussion," she told me. "Perhaps you should consider keeping your suspicions about the region's greatest philanthropic organization on the down low."

"Why?"

"Just in case there is any veracity to your claim," she said. "You wouldn't want them to view you as a threat."

They probably already did see me as a threat. Why else would Ray try to have me arrested under false pretenses? Her point about not advertising my location made sense, though. "You're not just patronizing me, are you?"

"Patronizing you?" She repeated it in that pseudo-offended tone of voice most often used by people in a patronizing mood. "Why would I do that? I'm your BFF, right? I've even entrusted you with a grand secret of mine."

Now she was definitely patronizing me. But it felt good to hear those words from her, so I let it slide. Whether she liked it or agreed with it, Nette and I had a bond. We had spilled the beans on something that we ached to keep to ourselves. Not just that! By telling her about Burton and Ray, I also forged an alliance with someone whose social net cast far more widely than mine. She would find those two much more quickly than I could hope on my own.

Nette left me with a new puzzle that day, too. I watched her walk back to work, I wondered why a person would want to dull the color of her eyes. That shade of blue was bright and unmistakable. If I saw eyes like that again, I would know right away who they belonged to. Maybe she was hiding from someone who could identify her by her eye color. Weird to think changing her eyes enshrouded her identity while her face was out in the open. That could make sense if she fled from someone who last saw her as a little girl.

Whatever the case with her past, I truly believed she could be trusted to help me. She might even bring the other three elite trainers with her.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks go to <strong>A Sea of Sound<strong> for Nette L. and **Psychotic Ralts** for Nova. I like the way these two characters are going. Nette will obviously be back later because she's one of the Elite Four. Besides, she still has a story to tell. You shouldn't read any romance into the connection between Gus and Nova. I didn't intend any of that scene to indicate unrequited love between them. Building up to this chapter, I thought the two would make a good traveling duo. But in this chapter, Nova decided she had a greater purpose in front of her. (There's your weekly **trivia**.)  
><em>

_I also need to thank **Riverlightillusion** for proofreading the chapter for me. If anyone else notices inconsistencies in the story, please let me know. I do appreciate corrective feedback when I mess something up._

_Kudos to **MidsummerMoonlight99** for keeping up with the story events really well! Indeed, Gus didn't accept the Potassium Badge from Garfield, leaving him short one badge. The only thing you misremembered was that "inner tube girl" wasn't an official gym leader in Ferrum City. She is in the effort of reviving the gym out there. Thanks for your continued support!_

_As I mentioned before, I need to take a short break to finish up another project. I hope to be back with the next chapter in the first week of July. I look forward to hearing any feedback you have for me or predictions you have for the story. Anyone have any guesses about Nette? How about Ray?_


	54. Sticky Web

Sticky Web

"You can disagree with me all you want but stop giving me that look. It's creeping me out. I mean, I can't even tell where your eyes are." Siggy sidled along beside me, shuffling his midget body in a way that he kept moving in the same forward direction down the trodden path but with his torso fully facing me. Bubbles popped and drifted and blew anew incessantly on his foamy body.

"Seriously: Do you even have eyes?"

He continued to stare in my direction unblinkingly and unflinchingly. After a full thirty seconds without a comprehensible response, he gave a simple, one-shoulder shrug. At least I knew he could hear me.

"Fine. We'll drop it. Besides, I have another topic that's sure to draw out more intellect: Where do people who live in igloos go to the bathroom?" I glanced his way again with a proud, boastful countenance. He returned that blank stare.

Suddenly I felt a sticky, silky thread wrap around my face. I knew the feeling of a cobweb and immediately began the ritual "EwGrossGetItOffMe!" dance. Even though I executed the steps flawlessly, my ankle still caught a rock and rolled underneath me, sending me sprawling on my back. I lay there in the dirt, wiping away the remnants of spider silk when Siggy slithered right up next to me and looked me over. After a moment of pure, blank stillness, he tilted his head to one side.

"Ha, ha," I said, feigning the level of amusement at my predicament he showed. "Yes, I _do_ have eyes. And they work, too." I struggled back to my feet and dusted myself off.

Not two seconds afterward, something pinched me on the left shoulder. My trip through the spider web alerted a nest of spinarak to my presence. They began dropping from the higher tree branches in unimaginable numbers, sending me into a panicked dive underneath a bush while I covered the back of my head with my hands.

"Siggy! Use Bubblebeam!"

Following commands, my golfoam spewed straight up into the air a pristine slipstream of water and bubbles. He was like the source of a geyser. There was no strategic reasoning for calling that particular move. I think my mind was still stuck on the thought of how bubbly Siggy's body could be. Regardless, he accomplished the effect I wanted. None of the spinarak landed on me. A large portion of the bugs either fainted or scurried off right away. A few of the smaller ones found themselves lighter than air inside bubble foam. I wasn't so sure that flying spiders was an improvement over freefalling spiders, though, so I shouted for another Bubblebeam and scrabbled along the ground until "Spider Rain" was no longer in the forecast.

"Thanks, Sig," I said when I was again upright. That's correct; it took me so long to stand up that Siggy's slow-moving body was able to catch me up. "I realize that my chances of becoming Spider-Man increase with each spider bite, but I'm still not willing to give it a shot. Luckily one of us was able to keep a cool head." Obviously I meant him. Spiders give me the heebie jeebies.

Deeper into the woods, the light became sparse. It was getting tough even to see my hand in front of my face. I only kept an eye on Siggy because his bubbles reflected every particle of light that reached this far down. It was time to choose another traveling partner.

Before I recalled him into his pokéball, I said to Siggy, "It's too bad you guys can't carry me around for a while. Then I could take a nap." With that thought for Siggy to puzzle over, he returned to his pokéball.

Reggie was a logical choice for replacement. He would make a good cohort because his flames could help offer me illumination. But then again, I didn't need to spend my time getting his attention back every single time a hoothoot or a noctowl fluttered overheard. Wolfram Village really was buried in the middle of the woods. Two days already passed since I left and still dense foliage surrounded me. The overhead canopy got so thick for lengthy stretches that I couldn't see a thing. This situation now wasn't my first time in the darkness, but I knew now that Reggie was easily distracted.

The sun in the day and the stars at night offered me little assistance. The only aid on my journey was the path clearly laid out before me. But Clara proved to be a big help. She used Flash in order to amplify the light given off by her tiny fairy body. It was like having a snuggly lantern perched on my shoulder.

"I'm just saying," I said to her after we'd been walking for ten minutes. "If you pee in an igloo, the walls will melt. Siggy can say whatever he wants."

Clara spoke in my ear. Given her height and species, her speech sounded like tony bells chiming.

"Right? I mean, come on, dude! Relatively few pokémon pee pure ice water and almost zero humans do. Odds are that igloo won't last a day, give or take a few sodas." More bells rang musically in my ear. "Ooh! I hadn't even considered what sunlight would do to it!"

I sidestepped a big, giant cobweb spun between two large trees and spanning the length of the road. With Clara's light shimmering and reflecting off the webbing, it was easy to see it coming before it was ensnared in my eyelashes. The shining web revealed a tapestry of such style and artistic flair it would have made for a killer placemat maze! Turns out spider's webs actually look pretty beautiful as long as they stay away from human skin.

As far as partners go, Clara wasn't as talkative as Siggy. She spent most of her time lying down, comfortably snuggled into that muscle that connects my neck to my shoulder. My mind began to wander toward Clara and the pokédex entry about spiritymphs. It clearly indicated that her species live for two weeks, and yet she and I had been together for longer than that already. Was that just how long spiritymphs as a whole live on average and mine was a special specimen? I mean, she didn't show a whole lot of fighting prowess. Maybe extended life span was nature's way of balancing her out.

While I worried about her, suddenly the bells chimed more wildly than ever. Clara ascended from my shoulder and drifted away from me.

"What's wrong, Clara?" I said, followed closely by screaming "D'ahhh!" I accidentally looked straight at her while she was still shining from the Flash technique and lost proper function in my retinas.

"I'm sorry," came a musical, feminine reply. It was a soft and delicate voice—the kind of dainty voice you'd expect to hear from a talking flower.

"Clara?" I said. "Your voice has changed."

A giggle, just as delightful as the voice. "No, I'm not Clara."

My eyesight still hadn't returned so I couldn't see who I was talking to. "What does that mean? Have I been calling you by the wrong name all this time?"

A brief pause ensued. "No, she seems to like the name Clara. It comes from the Cookie Fairy, right?"

"The Chocolate Fairy," I corrected.

"Even better!"

Now I was really confused. I rubbed my eyes vigorously to get the blood flowing where I needed it to repair my vision. A moment later, I was able to open them and make out the figure of a girl standing in front of me with a glowing, Clara-shaped afterimage superimposed on top of her. I couldn't tell any of her features until that died down a little more.

"Who are you?" I asked, hopeful that she wasn't an Omega with twenty more Grunts waiting for me in the wings.

"I don't mean to intrude," she said. "My name is Farrah. I came this way because I heard your spiritymph. Fairy pokémon are a hobby of mine."

I nodded, still shaking the glow from my eyes. "They're more an interest for me. Interests are free. Hobbies cost money."

"That's funny."

Clara hit the dimmer switch on herself when she realized what she had done to me, which helped me recover. Now the girl at least appeared to me as a human silhouette. From the gentle curve of her figure and her dainty girth, I assumed she was a traveler around my age. Each passing second helped me collect more visual data until I was sure that she was indeed teenaged, fair-skinned, and very cute.

"I'm Gus," I said. Extending my hand, I added, "It's nice to meet you." With any luck, it would be, at least. Hesitation entered my mind. After all, this was a girl who happened to be wandering through underbrush in the dark woods all by herself. What kind of person did that? And what a coincidence that she just happened to find me, a guy wanted by Team Omega and the Marshals service. It would be foolhardy of me to trust her so quickly.

She took my hand. "Likewise." The palm of her hand was softer to the touch than any pillow or bed sheets ever conceived by humankind. Like a cloud woven into gloves.

"What brings you out here?" I asked, trying hard not to get sucked into her immediate charm. If she was smart, she would doubt my integrity, too. I made the first step by answering my own question. "Personally, I just left Wolfram Village enroute to the next big place with a pokémon gym."

"Really? That's so exciting!" cried Farrah. The whiteness of her teeth reflected Clara's light like the moon reflects sunlight. "So you're a burgeoning trainer working through the gym circuit? You must be headed to Aurum City next. Is that why you caught a spiritymph?"

Confused, I furrowed my brow. "Come again?"

"Aurum hosts the Fairy Gym," she explained. "Aren't you going there for training with Clara?"

"Of course I am," I scoffed. "I knew that's where the Fairy Gym was and that it was the closest town to here. That's exactly why I'm going that way." I didn't really know. "Are you a fairy trainer?"

"You can't tell?" She pointed to the shrub by her leg and it began to wriggle. Immediately my heart began pumping extra hard to ensure sufficient oxygen was where it needed to be when I screamed like a frightened child. At the last second before I filled the air with my bloodcurdling howl, I recognized the shrub.

"That's a… blue-fairy-bush-thing."

"A kurigie," said Farrah, "although I think blue-fairy-bush-thing is the scientific classification. I just caught her out here ten minutes ago. We were about to head home when we heard you two."

"You live in Aurum," I guessed.

"Bingo! It's still about a day's walk as long as you follow this route." She pointed in a direction that could conceivably have gone anywhere, given that I had no celestial landmarks to guide me. But the path was wide and easy to follow.

"Why wouldn't I follow that road, then?" I asked.

"My apologies for being presumptuous. A lot of trainers take the long way and go through the Rhenium Corridor. It's a valley known for being so nutrient rich that almost literally _any_ rock formation can be found there. If you find a Moon Stone, you can evolve Clara."

Now my heart leapt with sudden relief. "That's how to evolve a spiritymph?"

"Yep!"

I sighed deeply. "Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid we were going to miss the two-week deadline and I'd have to bury my poor little girl. We'd better get there right away!"

Farrah held out her hand, offering Clara a friendly landing zone. The human gently traced the veins on my pokémon's wings, stroked her hair, and sniffed her tiny body. That last part was weird to me. In my mind, Clara smelled like rain. "She's old, but not old enough to be in imminent danger," said Farrah.

I made a face. "How can you tell? Are you some kind of fairy voodoo master?"

She winked. "Only during a full moon or a solar eclipse." Another giggle escaped her, which was fine and all except I didn't get the joke. "No, nothing like that. I just know a lot about fairy-types. I'll have another spiritymph before too long now." She looked at the kurigie to illustrate her point. "Even if you left Clara outside of her pokéball the entire time, she should still make it until you get a Moon Stone."

"That's wonderful news." I stepped forward and ran a finger along Clara's spine. She turned in my direction and fluttered back over to me, snuggling into my palm in such a way that she was essentially using my stationary hand to pet herself.

"Does the pokéball prolong her life?" I asked, elaborating on something Farrah said.

"Being inside a pokéball is like being in a state of near-suspended animation. All pokémon age more slowly, heal more slowly, and ail more slowly that way. Even a poisoned pokémon lasts longer inside the pokéball than outside exerting itself."

"Makes sense." I looked at Clara with a serious weight lifted from my shoulders. She was going to be okay after all. I just needed to go find a Moon Stone. Fortunately, they were—apparently—growing nearby. "How do I get to the Rhenium Corridor?"

She pointed out a second, thinner path that wound through the trees in a different direction from Aurum City. "Take that route until you see all the tall rocks. You'll know when you get there. You really can't miss it. Good luck!"

"Thanks."

I turned up the path she pointed out and stroked Clara's fur again. "Do you like her?" I asked. A series of enthusiastic bell chimes appeared to signal a positive response. "Yeah, she seems alright… as long as this doesn't turn out to be some kind of Team Omega trap."

Try as I might to remain cautious, I couldn't sincerely bring myself to doubt Farrah. Finding out every single person I ever met was a member of Team Omega only to then be betrayed by them planted a worry seed in my mind. I might never meet another person without doubting his or her allegiance. But something about Farrah resonated with me as trustworthy. Maybe I was just feeling hopeful. She told me I was going about evolving Clara the wrong way and instructed me that the right way was easily within my grasp. That feel-good moment might be why I felt fondly toward her. Of course, the Elder often told me that people who are attractive are generally rated as more honest, skillful, and trustworthy than other people for no reason at all. Given how cute Farrah was, maybe I was just falling for the classic halo effect.

Nah, I'm sure it was the feel-good thing.

* * *

><p><em>A little late, but as promised, my next chapter is up on the first weekend of July. Those of you who make a habit of writing may be little surprised that I did not finish my other project by the appointed deadline, but I'm close. I will continue to work on it for the next month until I can finish up, but while that will, at times, cause my updates to be late, it will not stop me from continuing this story. I'm excited about what comes next, so stay tuned with me!<em>

_The new character Farrah was contributed to this story by **DolceBrio**. Thank you, though I'm not certain if you're still reading this. Like with all of the other characters, this introduction was definitely not the only time she will appear. I also thank **MidsummerMoonlight99**, **Riverlightillusion**, and **Manser77** for leaving comments on the last chapter. As I've said before, even the slightest response from my readers does wonders to improve my enthusiasm about writing!_


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